Comprehensive and Compassionate Rehabilitative Care

For almost 40 years, Christian Hospital has provided acute inpatient rehab services in the Comprehensive Medical Rehabilitation (CMR) unit to give patients the personalized care they need to get back home. One of the first inpatient rehabilitation units in St. Louis, the CMR unit has a long history of meeting the unique needs of patients who need additional therapy after hospital stays, and to this day, it is still one of the few units of its kind in the region.

The CMR unit serves patients recovering from strokes, brain injury, spinal cord injury, orthopedic conditions, amputations, neurological diseases, cardiac disease and other medically complex conditions. With a team consisting of medical professionals with diverse expertise and backgrounds, they use state-of-the-art technology to address a wide range of conditions.

Eligible patients must have a treatable medical diagnosis that can be addressed through rehab and be able to withstand three hours of therapy per day. They must require at least two skilled therapy services, be it physical therapy, occupational therapy or speech-language pathology. They also must require 24/7 nursing care, which is why the CMR unit employs nurses to watch over patients around the clock to ensure their safety and that their comprehensive medical needs are met.

The CMR team also includes a physical medicine and rehabilitation physiatrist and a social worker, who help create individualized discharge plans to make sure that patients seamlessly transition back into the home with the help of their families or caregivers.

This transition is the ultimate goal of the program, and families are engaged throughout the entire rehabilitation process to prepare for it, learning how to continue necessary therapies and make sure the home is accessible and safe for their loved one’s return while facilitating as much independence as possible for the patient.

Having this type of unit in the North County area ensures that residents have access to the highest level of hospital care when they absolutely need it.

“We’re the only ones in the area, and we’re able to serve on both sides of the river,” says Emily McGhee, MD, physical medicine and rehabilitation physiatrist. “We’re close to home and close to family, and because we’re a smaller unit, we can provide that individualized care.”

Not only is accessibility a unique perk of this unit; so is the dynamic of the team.

“Being a smaller unit, we’re able to make it feel less like a hospital and more like a family,” says Liz Clawson, intake and PPS coordinator. “Even our newer staff members comment that it feels like a family environment. We have a big family tree in our unit with all of our team members.  We really try to make it feel less clinical.”

For more information or to speak with a CMR intake liaison, please call 314.653.5740.