Outpatient Rehabilitation Designed Especially for Children and Adolescents

TIRR Memorial Hermann Pediatric Outpatient Rehabilitation now provides intensive and specialized services for children at five locations in the Greater Houston area: at the Kirby Glen Center in southwest Houston (birth and up), at Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital (ages 12 and up), at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center (ages 8 and up), in Sugar Land (birth and up) and at TIRR Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands (birth and up). The expansion of pediatric outpatient rehabilitation across the city is in response to demand for Texas Medical Center-quality services closer to home.

The newest addition is a pediatric and adult outpatient rehabilitation program with expert clinicians, state-of-the-art therapy equipment, an onsite pool for aquatic therapy and comprehensive neurological and cancer rehabilitation programs in an 11,000-square-foot outpatient center in Sugar Land.

“Sugar Land residents in need of rehabilitation services no longer have to drive downtown to find the same superior quality care provided at TIRR Memorial Hermann,” says Jessica De La Rosa, PT, D.P.T., NCS, director of TIRR Memorial Hermann Adult and Pediatric Outpatient Rehabilitation. “We saw a special need to serve the pediatric population in the west Houston area. Because of the shortage of outpatient facilities equipped to serve kids, parents are using home health for rehabilitation. Using advanced equipment under the guidance of therapists with specialized training, TIRR Memorial Hermann produces better outcomes.” The Center’s pediatric therapy area is separate from facilities used by adults, with its own entrance from the waiting room.

Children benefit from comprehensive integrated rehabilitation programs in a clinical setting during the day, combined with the family’s emotional support at home. All five programs also address the child’s needs at school. Customized treatment plans are based on each child’s lifestyle, educational and personal needs, helping to create life-changing results. An interdisciplinary team of physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, neuropsychologists and social workers serve the following diagnoses: amputations, cancer, children who are medically fragile, developmental delay, dysautonomia, genetic conditions, multitrauma, neurological conditions (brain injury, spinal cord injury, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis), post-orthopedic surgery, sensory integration disorder, spina bifida and torticollis.

“Instead of taking adult rehabilitation programs and sizing them down for children, we’ve created specialized rehabilitation programs for pediatric patients from the ground up,” says Mikael Simpson, OTR, director of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services at The Woodlands. “As rehabilitation professionals we’re passionate about what we do.”

For more information about these programs or to refer a patient, call 1 (800) 44-REHAB (73422); (1 (800) 447-3422) toll free or (713) 797-5942 in Houston.