The Sun
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Photograph by George Sakkestad

Brenda Robinson strengthens her upper body with the help of Elizabeth Stark at the Hylond Healthcare Center. Hylond hopes to better serve its patients by expanding its facilities this fall.

Rehabilitation center to be the largest in Northern Cal

By Katherine Petersen

Hylond Healthcare Center, which serves 95 residents, doesn't have much space for physical therapy. The nursing facility can only serve about six patients at a time, rehabilitation director Elizabeth Stark said.

By midsummer, Hylond Healthcare Center will have solved this problem by building the largest rehabilitation center of any nursing facility in Northern California, said executive director Yvette Osterhaus.

Construction crews are clearing ground for Hylond's 2,400-square-foot addition near Fremont Avenue and Wolfe Road. Osterhaus estimated the cost of the project, which will include an additional building renovation, at $700,000.

Hylond currently uses temporarily converted patient rooms for rehabilitation and doesn't have access to much of the state-of-the-art equipment the new facility will offer.

The new rehab center will have free weights, weight machines, a stationary bike and stainless steel tanks for whirlpool therapy, Stark said. The new center might also contain a pool for hydrotherapy, although the final decision has not been made, Osterhaus said.

This comes as good news to Dr. Willard Regester, a general practice physician, who works with patients in 12 local nursing facilities.

"If there is a pool, it will make a unique setting in the area for rehab," Regester said. "There is a tremendous need for rehab space in the community. This is a project that should interest local orthopedic surgeons who can't care for patients in their offices."

With the additional space, Hylond hopes to double its capacity and to begin offering outpatient therapy, Osterhaus said. Hylond will be able to treat orthopedic and neurological patients, including victims of strokes and car accidents and those who have had knee- or hip-replacement surgery, she added. Hylond plans to hire four to six full-time physical therapists as part of the department's expansion.

"Our intention is to move forward with outpatient therapy to meet the needs of the geriatric community," Osterhaus said, adding that Hylond also serves nursing home patients as well as short-term rehabilitation patients.

"We're moving more into the rehab arena because a lot of folks who are 65 or older are on managed-care plans that want them out of an acute [care] hospital as quickly as possible," Osterhaus said. "By expanding our services, we will be able to serve patients on their second or third day out of the hospital."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 22, 1997.
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