The Hardin Memorial Health Board of Trustees approved an expansion plan that will allow more Central Kentucky children to receive physical, occupational and speech therapy services closer to home.
HMH Assistant Vice President Jeff Kingery, who presented the expansion plan for the Therapy and Sports Medicine Center in Elizabethtown at the Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday, said there is a strong community need for pediatric therapy, but they have outgrown the current space.
The $376,000 renovation will convert existing, unfinished space and is expected to open in summer 2016.
Kingery said the pediatric area of the center was designed for three therapists. Currently, the equivalent of 4.9 full-time staff members are dedicated to pediatrics, and demand continues to grow.
Dan Martin, director of rehab and wound care services, said approximately 60 children are on waiting lists for physical, occupational and speech therapy services. The expansion will allow the hiring of the additional therapists the families in the region need, and it will allow for specialized space for neonatal patients.
The renovation project includes a space to work with neonatal and pediatric patients who have underdeveloped feeding function, Martin said. He noted HMH’s level II neonatal intensive care unit, which opened in September, is expected to increase demand for therapeutic services for babies.
The renovated space will include a 1,500 square-foot therapeutic playground, made possible by a $50,000 donation from Your Community Bank to the Hardin Memorial Health Foundation.
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