New hospital to bring jobs and rehab access to east Jefferson County

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A major hospital partnership between UofL Health and Kindred Healthcare will bring new jobs and new rehab care to greater Louisville and beyond. The two big health care names known for innovative rehab are joining forces to reach more people around the Commonwealth.

The new facility is set to open next year, providing assistance to patients suffering from conditions ranging from stroke to COVID complications.

“To bring back to their highest functional capacity,” UofL Health CEO Tom Miller explained to WAVE 3 News Tuesday.

While most hospitals help patients past the initial stage of COVID complications, many patients are weak and need help after survival.

Getting back to life is what UofL Health - Frazier Rehab Institute did for the Pendergrass family. They told WAVE 3 News it’s where their loved one Tawana spent 105 days in multiple hospitals with the coronavirus, including time on a ventilator, and finally got the help she needed to go home.

They said when she was released from Frazier, they wanted other families to know there is hope.

Frazier Rehab is close to downtown, west Louisville, and parts of south Louisville. Jason Zachariah, the Kindred Healthcare President and COO, said he hopes the new hospital will provide easy access to rehab for those in the eastern part of Louisville.

“Patient rehab has been lacking on the east end of town,” he said.

That’s also true for nearby counties, which is something Miller added.

With more people surviving strokes, brain injury, spinal cord injury, complex neurological disorders, orthopedic conditions, multiple traumas, and debilitating illnesses like COVID, Miller said hospital intensive therapy is in demand.

“As we looked to the east and we looked to the regional area, Shelby County and further out, the location for this facility is just going to open up access,” he said.

The new 55,000 square foot, 40 bed rehab hospital will be built near the intersection of I-71 and Gene Snyder, near Costco.

“It will have high functioning gyms, what we call assisted living transitional quarters,” Zachariah explained, “so that adapts patients back to home, all state-of-the-art technology, including robotics and augmented reality.”

Miller and Zachariah said the new hospital hopes to be ready to admit its first patients by October of 2022.

It will also bring millions of dollars in jobs and payroll to Louisville -- first construction jobs, then about 140 to 160 caregivers and support staff will be needed, which doesn’t include physicians, radiologists, or pharmacy workers.

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