As part of an effort to enhance safety, privacy and the overall patient experience, Ministry Good Samaritan Health Center, which is part of Ascension, will soon relocate its Rehabilitation Services department from the Menard Center on the hospital campus to the facility’s third floor.

The move will combine services and needed space for physical, occupational and speech therapy into the existing cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation area. The goal of the project is to provide a single location dedicated to all aspects of rehabilitation services provided by Ministry Good Samaritan clinicians and associates.

“This is something we have been evaluating and listening to feedback from our rehabilitation services patients and the community for some time,” said Jackie Frombach, director of patient care services and operations at Ministry Good Samaritan. “As we strive to continuously improve the services available to our patients and the Merrill community, it makes good sense to leverage the operational advantages that come from combing our rehabilitation offerings into one single area.”

Frombach says those advantages include more private space for clinicians to provide treatments and better access for therapists to move back and forth from the hospital’s inpatient unit or emergency department to the third-floor location.

“By having the staff all in one area, we will be able to better meet the needs of our hospitalized patients and those with outpatient appointments,” said Frombach. “The new space allows our care teams to focus on individual patient needs providing high-quality, compassionate, personalized care in a setting dedicated solely to those who come to us for care,” she stated.

As the result of the relocation, Ministry Good Samaritan will be ending a fee-based program that has provided access for participants to the therapy gym each month.

“We have been working with participants to explore other alternatives in the community,” stated Frombach.

Physical, occupational and speech therapy services will continue to operate out of the Menard Center until the end of March. Starting in April, those with therapy appointments should use the main entrance of Ministry Good Samaritan Health Center and take the elevator to the third floor.

Patients with questions can contact the rehabilitation services department at 715-539-2132.