Brooke Grove rehab center aims to combine health care and hospitality

by Terri Hogan
Senior Staff Writer
A ribbon cutting on April 27 marking the grand opening of Brooke Grove Rehabilitation and Nursing Center’s new rehab center featured the release of dozens of monarch butterflies as a visual symbol of renewed life to be found within its walls.
“This building is a blend of health care and hospitality,” said Brooke Grove Foundation Vice President Dennis Hunter. “With therapy spaces and dining areas bathed in sunlight, fireside gathering places, outdoor porches and expansive private rooms, we have created spaces that offer a sense of quiet and a sense of peace, where people feel good and realize that they can get better.”
Hunter said the $26 million facility was built in the context of a healing center, but blended with hospitality elements to create a place where people really want to stay.
“With generous splashes of sunlight, inspirations of fresh air, dramatic vaulted ceilings that lift people’s spirits and open space enough to feel ‘ahhh,’ this revitalizing space is enveloped by the great outdoors of our 225-acre campus,” he said.
The facility features state-of-the art rehabilitation equipment, along with commercial kitchens on each floor that serve restaurant-style meals.
“I think this is a very bold move for a health care facility,” Hunter said.
Patients were moved into the building on April 20 and the response has been very positive, Hunter said.
There are 56 beds in Phase 1 of the project, and Phase 2, expected to be completed in December, will add 14 more.
The facility targets short-term rehab patients, post-hospitalization or post-acute care, who need inpatient rehab services.
Brooke Grove’s motto is “Touching People’s Lives.”
“As much as a building can touch lives, this one does,” Hunter said.

Everyone is invited to tour the new rehab center during a Community Open House 2-5 p.m. May 25.
Health care and senior service providers are encouraged to attend a Professional Open House from 4:30 to 7 p.m. June 13.
Please RSVP to Toni Davis at 301-388- 7209 or [email protected] by May 23 or June 11.

Terri Hogan can be reached at [email protected].