MEDICAL
DUKE
UNIVERSITY
CENTER
/lO I
VOL./, NO.X JUNE, 1963 DUKIIAM, N. C.
Rehabilitation facilities are still having the finishing touches put on—and up. This is the
“walking area” in the Brace Shop where patients can try out their new appliances with the
aid of hand rails and full-length mirrors.
(Duke photo liy Spiuks)
Rehabilitation
Facilities Get a
”Face Lifting”
by Norman K. Nelson
The Duke Medieval Center’s rehabili
tation facilities have themselves been
“rehabilitated” and are virtually
ready to begin serving patients in
quarters that have been redesigned,
enlarged and completely redecorated.
Under way since last summer, the
$750,000 project has given a new look
to basement areas that had become
badly overcrowded during the years
and had ceased to provide adequately
for either patient service or training
ancillary personnel.
Key changes effected by the pro
gram are:
1. Total renovation and expansion
of the Physical Therapy Department,
Occupational Therapy Department,
and Prosthetic and Orthopedic Ap
pliance Center.
2. Provision of (piarters for the
Medical Center’s Division of Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation.
3. Addition of some 10,000 s(|uare
feet of new floor space to the Medical
Center.
4. Air conditioning of the new and
renovated quarters.
Physical therapy ])atients m’Iio once
were treated in a long, narrow area
(trowded with cubicles and staff mem
bers’ desks now enter a reception room
attractively furnished with green and
blond furnit>ire and featuring a light
green color scheme. The reception
ist’s desk is overhung by modernistic
burnt orange lighting fixtures.
Wide corridors are flanked by 13
^^rtaiued treatment cubicles. In the
liydrotlierai)y area, four cubicles pro
vide facilities for whirlpool baths and
other forms of treatment utilizing
water. A stainless steel pool in this
area is equipped with a variable
height floor and a “walking trough”
of greater depth than the rest of the
])00l.
The department’s spacious new
gymnasium contains equipment for a
variety of exercises. This facility is
separated by an accordion wall from
a classroom for physical therapy stu
dents. Poth gym and classroom are
connected with the Duke Medical
Center’s closed-circuit television
I
I
system to permit televised teaching
demonstrations for nuMlical and physi
cal therapy students.
(’areful plainiing, with the ])atient
constantly in mind, lias resulted in fea
tures such as wlieelchair-width door
ways throughout the dei)artment; an
elaborate intercom system aiul signal
lights for the treatment cubicles; and
furniture designed to provide maxi
mum comfort for handicajiped pa
tients. The department also includes
a central charting area for patients;
and offices for members of the pliysical
therai)y staff.
(Continued on i)age 5)