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VOLUME 15, NUMBER 2
FEBRUARY, 1968
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Rehab II Gets Off the Drawing Board
The construction of our new Rehabilitation Center
began right after zoning approval was given by the
Durham Board of Adjustment on January 30th. The
center, the second construction project of a three-
phase program, will be located adjacent to the South-
side School and across Erwin Road from the Duke Men's
Graduate Center. The first phase of Duke's new fac
ilities for rehabilitation of the injured and disabled
is located behind Baker House at the east end of Duke
Hospital and is scheduled to open in February. That
unit, costing $850,000 will be primarily for rehabili
tation of surgical patients, speech and hearing diag
nosis and therapy and orthodontic (teeth and jaw)
therapy. Phase III is only in the earliest planning
stages.
The proposed structure on Erwin Road will be two
stories and contain 26,664 square feet. Louis E. Swan
son, Director of Planning for the Duke Medical Center,
said it will have contemporary Gothic design, using
Duke stone and precast concrete. The total projected
cost is $1,052,059 including architectural and engi
neering work performed by J.N. Pease Associates of
Charlotte. The George W. Kane Construction Co. of
Durham has been awarded a construction contract total
ing $886,400 and calling for a 12-month construction
period. The Hospital Section of Duke Endowment has
pledged $440,000 toward the costs, and the remaining
$612,059 has been provided by the North Carolina Med
ical Care Commission, which assisted in the financing
of Rehab. I, the Baker House unit.
Dr. James Elmore, chairman of Duke's rehabilitation
planning committee, said the Erwin Road facility will
be designed to provide a broadly based rehabilitation
program for ambulatory patients. In addition to the
physical aspects of rehabilitation. Dr. Elmore said the
center also will focus on "social, vocational and ed
ucational rehabilitation, as well as dealing with atti-
tudinal problems that accompany injury and disability."
Staffing the center will be by what Dr. Elmore called
the "team concept", and will include persons trained
in psychiatry, psychology, sociology, nursing, voca
tional rehabilitation, occupational therapy and educ
ational counseling. "We will try to provide continuity
of care from the acute phase in the hospital to the
point where the patient reaches his maximum capacity"
at the^center. Dr. Elmore said. Personnel at the cen
ter will continue to follow patients' progress after
discharge "until they reach their maximum of potential,"
he said.
The center will not be an in-patient facility, and
patients living outside the commuting distance will
have to arrange for housing outside the Medical Center.
In-patient arrangements for rehabilitation patients
are part of the third phase planning. Dr. Elmore
explained that the attitudes and expectations of the
families of the disabled are important aspects of
patients' rehabilitation, and that family counseling
will be part of the broad program at the new facility.
With this facility added to the growing Medical Center
complex, Duke will be extending its scope of services
to a segment of the patient population.
HOSPITAL FACTS -1967
Total Inpatients
21,433
Total Inpatient Days
211,847
Average Daily Census
587
Average Length of Stay
10.25
Emergency Visits
14,582
Births
1,593
Public Out-patient Visits
116,309
Private Out-patient Visits
111,453
Physical Therapy Treatments
28,000
X-ray Examinations
136,618
Volunteer Hours
14,277
Active Medical Staff
227
Interns, Residents ยง Fellows
394
Other Trainees
140
Hospital Employees
1,977
Prescriptions Filled
182,500
Laundry Processed (pounds)
3,662,641
Laboratory Examinations
1,497,000
Surgical Operations
13,725
Me&ls Served
1,085,989
Total Beds Staffed for Use
639
Total Payroll
$ 7,735,763
Total Budget
$13,151,133