Construction to Begin on New Rehabilitation Hospital in Hershey

Thursday, April 16, 2009

On April 14, representatives from Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Select Medical, and the Hershey Trust held a ceremonial groundbreaking at the future site of the Penn State Hershey Rehabilitation Hospital. Construction will begin soon at the site, located along West Chocolate Avenue in Derry Township. The new hospital, a collaboration between Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Select Medical, is slated to open in mid-2010. The 61,058 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility will house 44 adult beds and 10 pediatric beds. At present, the hospital is operating in a temporary location in Harrisburg until construction of the new facility is completed.

The new freestanding rehabilitation hospital will offer expanded facilities and greater ease-of-access, providing rehabilitation care for patients who have already been treated for more acute injuries or conditions such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, and orthopaedic surgery. These are areas in which Penn State Hershey Medical Center excels, and through this partnership with Select Medical, the new rehabilitation hospital enhances the Medical Center's ability to provide outstanding follow-up rehabilitation services to patients who look to the Medical Center for treatment.

Moving rehabilitation medicine into its own specialty hospital has also created more space within the main hospital for other services, such as new operating rooms and more beds for patients. Renovations are already well underway in the areas of the hospital previously occupied by rehabilitation.

It's not only current patients who will benefit from the new hospital. The new Penn State Hershey Rehabilitation Hospital will increase the Medical Center and College of Medicine's capacity for training medical students and residents in physical medicine, rehabilitation, and related fields. Additionally, faculty, students, and patients alike stand to benefit from the expanded opportunities for medical research offered by this new facility.