Mary Free Bed expansion makes rooms at "The Inn"

As the final phase of its $66.4 million expansion and renovation project, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital recently opened 10 additional new rooms at the Inn at Mary Free Bed, a lodging alternative that provides a practical solution to two challenges facing Mary Free Bed’s longer-term rehabilitation patients. One, the Inn provides a home away from home for their family members. Two, patients who no longer need nursing care, but aren’t ready to go home, can stay with their families at the Inn while they continue rehabilitation. In 2017, more than 3,700 people stayed at the Inn. Mary Free Bed plans on adding another six rooms to the Inn, for a total of 22 rooms.

“Ten years ago, we did pilot of six rooms to see if there was a need,” says Kent Riddle, CEO, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. “Many of our patients are from all over the state, as well as Indiana and Ohio. They stay here on average for two-and-a-half weeks—sometimes eight months. Families want to be here on campus, connected.”

Like a well-appointed hotel, the spacious, fully accessible suites not only have perks like flat-screen TVs, wireless Internet, and kitchenettes, they also provide universal access features such as seating and tables that raise and lower and open bathrooms featuring walk-in/roll-in showers with seats and grab bars. Also, accessible hallways connect the Inn to the Mary Free Bed Professional Building; an accessible skywalk connects lodgers to the main hospital and the Outpatient Therapy Center. Like a bed and breakfast, the Inn serves a complimentary continental breakfast every morning.

“The rooms are really decked out. They can accommodate every imaginable configuration of family members,” Riddle says. “For rehabilitation patients, moving to the Inn makes sense—lower costs, greater value. They continue to get their therapy every day and have access to a nurse and physicians.”

Riddle notes that having family members present supports patients’ recovery and rehabilitation. In addition, because many family members will take on the role of caregiver when their loved one comes home, they can attend therapy sessions and learn how to accomplish caregiving tasks—for example, helping transfer from wheelchair to bed at night.

“Having the family around motivates patients to work harder and get better faster,” Riddle says. “It’s also easy and convenient for families while they are going through one of the toughest times of their lives, too.”

Written by Estelle Slootmaker, Development News Editor
Photos courtesy Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital