Memorial opening new, larger rehab clinic

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital is opening a new $1.3 million rehabilitation and occupational therapy clinic in a two-story building near downtown that was formerly a gastroenterology clinic.

The Springs, as the clinic is called, is on South 10th Avenue near a complex of doctors' offices and laboratories.

Jackie Ray, director of rehabilitation services, said
increased demand for such
services was making Memorial's existing site on North 16th Avenue -- called 16th Avenue Station -- too small.

The new 13,000-square-foot facility will have six exam rooms, five individual treatment rooms and two rooms for treating lymphedema, the swelling of tissues after breast surgery.

Services offered include orthopedic medicine, occu-
pational therapy, massage
therapy and physical thera-
py. Aquatic therapy will re-main at 16th Avenue Station.

The Springs will also have an "activities of daily living" kitchen and bathroom to help patients with serious medical conditions -- such as stroke and brain injuries -- relearn basic tasks, such as dishwashing and cooking.

"We don't have great places to take people on an outpatient basis to get them functional again," Ray said.

Ray said hospital chief executive Rick Linneweh came up with the name after she told him she wanted a clinic that was "clean, crisp and sophisticated." It's meant to evoke water, a spa and the sunny high desert of Yakima, she said.

The Springs will have a public open house March 6 and begin accepting patients March 8.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.