CA donates $5M to Open Children’s Rehab Center

Long Island Business News—October 6, 2011   

The Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan has unveiled its CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center, a 7,000-square-foot pediatric facility built with a $5 million gift from Islandia-based CA Technologies, the second multimillion-dollar donation the company made toward pediatric care in the New York City metropolitan region.

The Hospital for Special Surgery said the facility is twice the size of the previous center and able to accommodate more than 30,000 annual visits, nearly twice the 18,000 to the old center last year.

The rehabilitation center is the first portion of the new Lerner Children’s Pavilion, slated to be completed in mid-2012.

The opening ceremony was held on Wednesday at the rehabilitation facility, which is slated to accept its first patients Oct. 17.

“In terms of recovery and treatment, it is important to have a space that encourages children and makes them feel at ease,” Dr. Roger Widmann, chief of pediatric orthopedic surgery, said in a written statement.

Patients often stay at the center after procedures at the Manhattan hospital, where surgeons perform 2,500 orthopedic surgeries on children and adolescents annually. The hospital treats orthopedic sport injuries such as ankle sprains, hip and knee pain and adolescent scoliosis; reconstructs ACLs and treats conditions such as cerebral palsy.

The center funded by CA includes a physical therapy gym with cardiovascular fitness, weight training and exercise equipment; two occupational therapy gyms; an expanded speech therapy suite; toys and virtual reality software to improve balance and coordination and an equipment clinic that specializes in helping with the use of wheelchairs.

Read the full story at libn.con.