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Partners break ground on Palomar Health Rehabilitation Institute


Palomar Health board members and executive staff break ground on the new rehabilitation hospital. Shown are (from left) Keyvan Smiley, Doug Moir, Sheila Brown, Diane Hansen, Linda Greer, Thomas Kumura, Carlos Bohorquez, Wayne Herron and Robert Diehl.

Leaders from Palomar Health and Kindred Healthcare broke ground August 16 to start construction on a new 52-bed acute rehabilitation hospital, the Palomar Health Rehabilitation Institute, on the campus of Palomar Medical Center Escondido. 

The joint-venture realizes a commitment Palomar Health has made to provide leading health care services in North San Diego County. Once completed near the end of 2020, the 58,000 square-foot, two-story building will serve an estimated 1,200 plus patients per year experiencing a loss of function from injury or illness.

“This facility expands our ability to serve our community’s health care needs in one convenient location,” Palomar Health President and CEO Diane Hansen told the Times-Advocate. “Keeping services close to home provides measurable benefits to both the supporting family members and patients, aiding them in their recovery process.”

The Rehabilitation Institute will provide psychiatry, physical and occupational therapy; speech-language pathology; rehabilitation nursing; internal medicine; medical and surgical subspecialty consultation; and nutritional services serving patients suffering from neuro disorders, stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury and amputation.

The hospital will contain 52 private rooms; a secured acquired brain injury unit with private dining and therapy gym; a dialysis suite; large interdisciplinary gyms; a therapeutic courtyard with golf, basketball and varied surfaces; and a transitional living apartment designed to simulate a residential home to prepare patients for their daily living tasks before they are discharged home.

Currently Kindred Healthcare and Palomar Health operate a 25-bed acute rehabilitation unit at Palomar Medical Center Downtown Escondido, which will be closing in the spring of 2020 to make way for a housing development.

“We look forward to continuing our quality-focused collaboration with Palomar Health in building a state-of-the-art hospital to serve the San Diego County and Southern California region,” said Jason Zachariah, president of Kindred Rehabilitation Services, a division of Kindred Healthcare. “We believe the Palomar Health Rehabilitation Institute will enhance healthcare services in the area and meet a growing need in this community “

Established in 1948, Palomar Health provides the most comprehensive health care in North San Diego County through its three medical centers and more than 160 affiliated medical providers serving more than half a million people. Palomar Health is San Diego County’s only member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network and is nationally recognized as operating one of America’s 250 Best Hospitals; a Best 100 Hospital for joint replacement and orthopedic surgery; a Best Hospital for stroke care, heart care and bariatric surgery; a Diabetes Center of Excellence; and a Blue Distinction Center for spine surgery, cardiac care and maternity. 

Kindred Healthcare, LLC is a healthcare services company based in Louisville, Kentucky with annual revenues of approximately $3.3 billion(1). At June 30, 2019, Kindred through its subsidiaries had approximately 34,500 employees providing healthcare services in 1,760 locations in 46 states, including 71 long-term acute care hospitals, 22 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, 11 sub-acute units, 95 inpatient rehabilitation units (hospital-based) and contract rehabilitation service businesses which served 1,561 non-affiliated sites of service. 

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