Summa Health System, Pennsylvania company to build, run rehabilitation hospital in Akron

AKRON, Ohio — Summa Health System and Vibra Healthcare LLC in Mechanicsburg, Penn., will build and run a free-standing rehabilitation hospital on the campus of Summa’s Akron City Hospital.

Construction on the 60-bed hospital is expected to begin later this year and to open in 2011. Summa’s rehabilitation staffs at Summa Akron City Hospital, Summa Barberton Hospital and Summa Wadsworth Rittman Hospital will treat patients who are recovering from strokes, spinal cord injuries and orthopedic surgeries at the new hospital, Summa said.

“The new rehabilitation hospital will ensure that our patients receive care that is second-to-none in a state-of-the-art, convenient location,” Tom Strauss, Summa’s president and CEO, said in a written statement. The hospital will complement Summa’s seniors, cardiac, cancer and orthopedics programs, and offer continued care for patients who have had recent hospital treatments, Strauss said.

The hospital will be built on E. Market Street in front of the Idabelle Firestone School of Nursing building, Summa said.

The Akron-based health system is partnering with Vibra Healthcare through a joint venture agreement. Vibra develops, acquires and operates long-term acute care and acute medical rehabilitation hospitals and has 16 hospitals with more than 1,200 beds in nine states. The Summa project would be Vibra’s first rehabilitative hospital in Ohio, however, the Pennsylvania company operates St. Francis Healthcare Center, an acute care hospital, in Green Spring, Ohio, according to Vibra’s Web site.

“We are pleased to partner with Summa Health System to bring this important service to the community,” said Don Yoder, Vibra’s chief development officer, in the statement. “As the baby boomers age … rehabilitation hospitals are a key part of patients’ health care needs.”