EHM Senior Solutions’ New Outpatient Rehab Center Focuses on Needs of Older Adults

A ribbon-cutting marked the dedication of the new outpatient center.

At UCC-related EHM Senior Solutions in Southeastern Michigan, requests were pouring in. Following successful treatment at EHM’s Redies Center for Rehabilitation and Healthy Living, older adults and their physicians started asking if they could continue to use some of the equipment at the center — especially the aquatic therapy pool and upright cardiac aquatic therapy tank — in order to further their recovery.

“A market study revealed that there were limited providers in the area offering senior-specific outpatient rehabilitation,” says Denise Rabidoux, EHM president and CEO. “EHM conducted a market and feasibility study and determined there was an unmet need in the community for a specific program where individuals could come and receive treatments by trained therapists, and then stay to receive healthy living, exercise, and wellness tips before leaving for home; much like what is usually delivered in a hospital setting.”

So within a month, the Redies Outpatient Center will open, offering a specialized array of rehabilitation and other programs for older adults. The center is focused on adults “who wish to remain healthy and continue to recover from surgery or a medical condition,” Rabidoux says.

The center’s upright aquatic therapy treadmill will help older adults continue their rehabilitation.

The new center, which was dedicated Dec. 13, 2018, has its own team of therapists with specialties in Parkinson’s Disease and neuromuscular conditions, general orthopedic conditions, cardiac conditions, and joint replacements. It also features physical, occupational, and speech therapists. There’s even special athletic training available for older adults “who wish to run that first marathon,” adds Rabidoux.

The December dedication consisted of a blessing of the center and ribbon-cutting, and featured Rabidoux; the Rev. Ken Daniel, CHHSM board president and president and CEO of United Church Homes; and the Rev. George Graham, CHHSM vice president.

“I was honored as a fellow CHHSM organization to participate in celebrating the opening of the new outpatient rehab facility for EHM Senior Solutions in Michigan,” says Daniel. “This occasion marked the expansion of an innovative vision that has propelled EHM forward among the leaders of long term services and supports. CEO Denise Rabidoux has led an incredible array of new support services in Saline that have become the new standard in caring for the needs of older adults.”

Graham concurs. “Being part of the dedication of the new outpatient therapy center as a representative of CHHSM was really meaningful to me,” he says. “It showed me the close, longstanding ties between EHM and CHHSM, as well as the way this new center will allow the organization to expand its ministry of healing in the community, offering the individuals it serves fullness of life.”

The new Outpatient Center shares space with the Redies Center for Rehabilitation and Healthy Living. In 2012, EHM began leasing space for the rehab facility from a former St. Joseph Mercy Hospital System building that shared a wall with EHM. In 2016, when the hospital ceased operations, EHM purchased the building. Since 2012, the Center for Rehabilitation and Healthy Living has served some 1,800 short-term rehabilitation clients who average eight-day stays. The new Outpatient Center, with its separate team of specialists, will help those clients — and many more — continue the path to recovery and healthy living, says Rabidoux.