Posted on April 22, 2021

Mary Free Bed reopens ReCOVery℠ Unit due to increase in COVID-19 cases

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The ReCOVery℠ Unit at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital is operational for the third time in response to a significant surge of patients with COVID-19 in West Michigan hospitals.

The dedicated unit is for patients who need intensive inpatient rehabilitation and have recently tested positive for COVID-19. The 11-bed ReCOVery℠ Unit is in a physically isolated area of Mary Free Bed’s main campus hospital. All Centers for Disease Control and Prevention precautions and more are implemented to keep patients and employees safe.

Whether COVID-19 is a primary or secondary diagnosis, these patients are focused on one thing: safely returning home to their loved ones. Team members focus on cognition, deconditioning, respiratory function, neurologic injury and other conditions associated with the virus.

“We’re seeing younger patients on average than we treated last spring or fall,” said Dr. Ralph Wang, lead rehabilitation physician for the ReCOVery℠ Unit. “With targeted therapy and a better understanding of the disease, we’re confident that rehabilitation will help bring about the best recovery possible.”

The ReCOVery℠ Program also offers outpatient services in person and virtually to help patients recovering at home from COVID-19 symptoms, including those affected by persistent symptoms that last weeks or months after the infection has cleared.

Whether it’s in the hospital or at home, the ReCOVery℠ Program provides tools to improve and speed recovery. The multidisciplinary ReCOVery teams are led by board-certified physiatrists utilizing the latest COVID-19 research and treatment. Depending on each patient’s needs, teams include physical and occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, respiratory therapists, psychologists, pain specialists and nutritionists.