JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Bartram is now home to a new rehab facility focused on the innovation of technology.
For more than a year and a half -- drivers have watched the massive building take shape along I-95 -- just south of Old St Augustine Road.
It has 60 private rooms which are larger to increase safety. There are also rooms with lifts and ceiling tracks for patients who can’t get around by themselves.
It also has an outdoor therapy courtyard with different inclines and terrains to help patients practice walking and wheeling for when they return home. The hospital also has two state-of-the-art gyms and miniature golf.
Christa Jordan was the first patient to check into the facility on Tuesday. She suffered from a stroke and got a warm welcome when she arrived.
“That was very exciting. It was overwhelming. I felt like a movie star,” Jordan said. “I’m trying to get well as soon as possible through the therapy so I can take care of my 90-year-old husband.”
Medical Director Parag Shah said this location, which makes three rehab locations for Brooks around the community, will specialize in similar traumas to their other hospitals.
“We’re going to take essentially any patient that needs hospital rehab, but specifically well see more commonly stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, transplant, cardiac patients,” Shah said.
The new campus was built to accommodate the area’s future growth.
The original location, on University Boulevard, cares for more than 3,000 patients a year.