Three years after embarking on its $10.5 million Neurosciences Center of Excellence Campaign, the PeaceHealth Southwest Foundation has achieved its goal. The final funding burst will pay for the expansion and renovation of the inpatient rehabilitation unit for neuroscience patients.
“We have always had really good neurosurgeons, and we’ve had really good neurologists and physical therapists and occupational therapists, and we’ve always delivered high quality care, but we haven’t always delivered it in the best setting,” said Carol Van Natta, the foundation’s executive director. “Now the setting in which we deliver care, they’re just vastly improved.”
Fundraising for the new Thomas & Sandra Young Neuroscience Center began in 2014. The center opened in November 2015 thanks to an initial funding round of $3 million.
The final pieces came in the form of a $1 million anonymous donation and $600,000 from the Tod and Maxine McClaskey Foundation. The anonymous donor selected the name of the unit, which honors Benjamin H. McGough, one of the founders of Rebound Orthopedics & Neurosurgery.
The Benjamin H. McGough, MD Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit will serve patients with brain and spinal injuries — “anyone whose brain or spine have been impacted to the point they need to relearn certain skills,” Van Natta said.
Construction on the 14-room center is underway with an expected completion date of July 2018.
Each room will be private, an important distinction Van Natta said.
“It’s just not appropriate to have these patients in double rooms,” she said. “We now know when someone’s had a real serious injury, they need privacy.”
The unit will also feature an expanded rehabilitation gym, dining room, outdoor therapy garden and space for support services.
The final funding round also helped create the Thomas & Sandra Young Neurosciences Center on the sixth floor of the Firstenburg Tower, the Jay D. Miller Neuroscience Caregiver Education Endowment and the Ron and Terry Prill Cardiac Center on the fourth floor of the Mother Joseph Building at PeaceHealth Southwest.
The endowment, Van Natta said, will ensure that neurological caregivers — including nurses and physical therapist — will receive the latest training.
“We’re really pleased,” she added.
