Craig Hospital, USA (Craig Hospital) is a rehabilitation hospital in the state of Colorado, which specializes in injuries to the spinal cord and brain.

This hospital is regularly many years in a row awards of various American organizations, and also occupies high positions in the rating of rehabilitation institutions US News and World Report.

In 2013, Craig Hospital took the 7th place in America for rehabilitation.

A Brief History of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Craig.

In 1907, Frank Craig founded in Lakewood an institution with an unusual name for us, "The tent colony of brotherly love" for the treatment of poor men with tuberculosis. Craig himself died of tuberculosis in 1914, and the colony was renamed in his honor in 1919.

Since by the middle of the century the need for facilities for tuberculosis in the United States had dropped dramatically, the Craig Colony began to concentrate on other areas - diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis, poliomyelitis, muscular dystrophies and spinal cord injuries.

In 1958, the institution became known as the Craig Rehabilitation Center, and in 1966 - the Craig Rehabilitation Hospital,. In 1970, the hospital moved to Inglewood (Colorado), where the 80-seat building was built as an addition to the Swedish Medical Center, with which the hospital had to share some services.

The 1970s brought a big change to the Craig Rehabilitation Hospital. In 1975, he received his modern name and organized an independent team engaged in brain injuries. Intensive research and expansion of the hospital fund continued for the next two decades before the hospital appeared before us in its present form.

Research and achievements of Craig Hospital.

In 1973, the National Institute for the Study of Disability and Rehabilitation (NIDRR) opened a specialized center for patients with spinal cord injuries at the Craig Hospital, and from the following year,.

In the 1980s, intensive research into the treatment of paralyzed patients on artificial ventilation led to the creation of the famous management of The Management of High Quadriplegia from the series "Comprehensive Neurological Rehabilitation", which was published in 1989. In 1993, employees of the Craig Hospital, with extensive experience working with elderly patients with spinal cord injuries, published another significant work, Aging With Spinal Cord Injury. This book, like the previous one, is still being reprinted by American publishing houses.

In 1991, the Parastep FES system was tested on the basis of the hospital, in 1996, the effectiveness of the intrathecal baclofen pump. In 2004, Craig Hospital participated in a large multicenter study of the Sygen Multicenter Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study.

In 1998, the hospital created a specialized center for traumatic brain injuries. The own cell center with a clean room of the standard 10 000 (ISO 7) was opened in 2003. Thanks to him, Craig Hospital was the first in the US to start Phase II study of Activated Macrophage Clinical Trial. In 2006, the center of traumatic brain injuries received a 3-million grant for the study of TBI, and next year - nearly 6 million for studies in the field of neurological rehabilitation.

Craig Hospital today.

The Craig Hospital is considered one of the best places in the United States to rehabilitate patients with brain or spinal cord injuries. For 24 consecutive years, Craig Hospital is one of the top ten US rehab hospitals.

Today, the hospital has 93 beds, and it remains an independent non-profit institution that provides outpatient and inpatient treatment, rehabilitation and long-term monitoring of patients.

Half of the patients of Craig Hospital come from outside the state of Colorado, including from a far abroad. The hospital is very popular - at any time it treats 75-85 inpatient and 50-60 ambulatory patients. The hospital provides housing for relatives of patients who are entitled to live here for the first 30 days free of charge.

The care system at the Craig Hospital covers all stages - from early treatment right after the injury to long-term rehabilitation and lifelong observation of the patient. The unique surroundings - the best trauma centers in Denver and its environs - allow, if necessary, any additional consultation and service.

Each patient is guaranteed quality comprehensive help from a large team consisting of a doctor, specially trained nurses, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a family counselor, a specialist in medical rest, a psychologist, a nutritionist, a speech therapist, a neuropsychologist, a pulmonologist and others.. This team regularly holds meetings with the patient and his relatives, on which you can outline the goals of rehabilitation, develop treatment plans, discuss issues of concern to the family. In the Craig Hospital treatment is individualized, doctors do not act strictly on the template, but approach each patient individually, taking into account physical, emotional and cognitive well-being, as well as specific goals of therapy.

The Craig Hospital is trying to diversify the lives of its patients, many of whom do not have access to the joys of life that are simply not seen by healthy people - hospital staff carry patients to the mountains and organize city tours, help them learn everyday skills. Rehabilitation is a serious and difficult process, but the Craig Hospital is trying to make it a little bit happier for patients.

A powerful support group is another plus of the hospital. There is an opportunity to communicate with patients of approximately the same age with similar traumas, learn from them, receive support and inspire others. A lot of patients are trained by specially trained doctors. Such interactive group training is very helpful for patients and their families to adapt to new life restrictions that are caused by illness or trauma. Long-term follow-up data show that former patients of Craig Hospital are much more successful in adapting to new conditions than people who did not pass this peculiar school.

The Craig Hospital has always believed that the involvement of the patient's relatives is an important condition for rehabilitation. In the offices there are no restrictions on visiting relatives and friends - they are welcomed as part of the team.

It is for the relatives to have the opportunity to be with the sick as long as possible, the hospital provides them with 30 days of free accommodation from the time of hospitalization, and further residence will be inexpensive.

A lot of attention in the Craig Hospital is devoted to teaching patients and their relatives. It has its own library, which includes dozens of books for specialists in brain and spinal cord injuries, 320 video lessons, three dozen teaching aids for patients and family educational groups. Many of these manuals are written by the doctors of the Craig Hospital itself.

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