Select Medical welcomed the community Wednesday to an open house for its new 31-bed critical illness recovery hospital in Oregon.
Regency Hospital — Oregon, on the fourth and fifth floors of Mercy Health St. Charles Hospital, will begin admitting patients next month.
The floors were vacated after the hospital’s behavioral health services relocated to another site offering the opportunity to house these specialized long-term care units.
The facility serves as a satellite location for Regency Hospital Toledo, a 45-bed, freestanding facility in Sylvania, specializing in long-term care for the critically ill.
The units have private rooms, high-acuity beds, and bariatric patient accommodations.
High demand for critical care beds prompted Select Medical to expand its offerings in the region, said Marc Trznadel, CEO of the Toledo market for Regency Hospital.
“We can take those patients so they can get additional patient services. When the emergency room and the ICU is full, we can help decompress,” Mr. Trznadel said. “We do great things to help decrease patients' length of stay in those hospitals.”
Mercy Health St. Charles Hospital President Craig Albers said the new facility adds value to the community by offering the “hospital within a hospital” model, which most other facilities in the area don’t have.
“Patients have the resources of Select Medical but it is also backed up by the resources of Mercy Health,” he said. “They will have their own team of people that will be here to provide the necessary care for every patient but if they need additional support and resources, they could reach out to us and we would support them.”
The average length of stay in a critical care unit is 25 days.
“Walking, talking, thinking, breathing and eating is what we’re working on,” said Kim Pyles, Regional Vice President at Select Medical. “We are that safe place where you can continue that high level of care.”
Ethan Pawlowski, 20, was a patient of Regency Hospital in Sylvania following a brain injury from a car crash at the age of 18.
“I was very well taken care of,” he said. “They built the bridge to my recovery.”
Mr. Pawlowski’s mother, Courtany Pawlowski, said the help extended beyond the immediate stay.
“Regency made a huge difference in all of our lives,” she said. “They taught us so much while we were there and even how to take him home and care for him.”
The new hospital is expected to generate approximately 150 new full-time jobs when it opens next month. Those positions include nursing, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, pharmacy staff, and leadership team members.
First Published January 18, 2023, 10:20 p.m.
