The state’s 1st inpatient pediatric rehab unit opens at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — The state’s first inpatient pediatric rehabilitation unit will open on Monday — and doctors say it was 11 years in the making.

Senior Medical Director for Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, Dr. Caughman Taylor, says the need for the new inpatient rehab unit came from children with traumatic brain injuries having to leave South Carolina to get the care they needed.

“And unfortunately we couldn’t get but only about 20 to 25% (of patients) to places outside the state, so that meant the large majority of children who suffered traumatic brain injuries did not get inpatient rehab,” he says.

“We’ve always done a great job with our pediatric and adult trauma teams. Our intensivists as well as our neurosurgeons in saving and stabilizing our children that have life threatening injuries, but then the next step was intensive pediatric therapy. So this is therapy three hours a day, five days a week. And our children and teens had to go out of state to get these very necessary services to maximize their recovery,” says Dr. Colleen Wunderlich, Director of Pediatric Rehab Medicine.

The closest cities with similar services were Charlotte or Atlanta, leaving some families with an exhausting commute.

Like Chris Johnson and his daughter Naomi — who suffered from a nonfatal drowning when she was three-years-old.

“Naomi had to have intensive pediatric therapy, but she had it in Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, so we had a lot of driving to do. And I just think it’s a great day for the children in South Carolina,” he says.

The new wing at 7 Richland Medical Park in Columbia will have private patient rooms — equipped with lift systems for bed-to-bath transfers, as well as a hallway walking system to promote mobility.

For now, the eight beds within the wing will be staffed by two doctors and seven nurses, with over 30 specialists assisting patients through physical, occupational, and speech therapy.

And even a multi-sensory room is available to provide calming or stimulating experiences through light, sound, and touch.

“I think it’s really special for a lot of kids like me, for them to have something closer to them, and if they need it, they can have it right there in front of them to help them through anything,” says now 16-year-old Naomi.

Leaders at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital say community support was vital to the opening of the new wing — with donors contributing over $735,000 for specialized equipment alone.