The pediatric rehabilitation program at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver opened 10 years ago with just a dozen patients. In the years since, the community’s need for the program has grown drastically, and the medical center’s Children’s Center now serves 550 local children each week, offering physical, occupational and speech therapy. Up until this April, the Children’s Center had the same amount of space to treat its first 12 patients as it did its current volume.
However, the medical center recently completed a 3,425-foot expansion of the Children’s Center, funded by community donations. The new space allows the Children’s Center to add services and reduce its 200-child waiting list. The Children’s Center also took over a vacated 1,120-square-foot suite on the same floor, bringing other pediatric services under the same roof.
With the increasing need for pediatric rehabilitation services, the space had become cramped, with some therapies — such as riding bikes — taking place in the hallways. The expanded clinic now includes four more treatment rooms, a parent viewing room, a sensory gym and an Activities of Daily Living room. Other features include dimmable lights and a mock bathtub to allow for practice in moving children between a wheelchair and the bathtub.
Another suite on the floor has been turned into offices for pediatric specialists, with providers specializing in pediatric endocrinology, children’s diabetes and pediatric pulmonology. The extra space also allowed the center to broaden its diabetes services and add pediatric gastroenterology and children’s mental health services. They’ll soon add a pediatric sedation room for outpatient procedures as well.
Read more here in a news story from The Columbian. (Tim Pfarr)
