STREETERVILLE — The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago is now the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a new 27-story research hospital where therapists work along scientists in an attempt to improve care.
The $550 million high-rise hospital formally opened March 25, when the it moved 171 patients from its former building on Superior Street to the new ability lab named after philanthropist Shirley Ryan, the wife of retired Aon Corp. founder Pat Ryan.
Like its predecessor, the new building at 355 E. Erie St. will treat people recovering from injuries in an attempt to acclimate them to what many times is an inaccessible society.
But in what AbilityLab officials say is a revolutionary approach, they're putting therapy labs alongside researchers with an eye toward detecting setbacks and delivering breakthroughs faster.
"It's something that's never been done before," said Nancy Paridy, chief administrative officer at the AbilityLab. "Unless you embed them together you'll never get the synergy that you do. You might as well be a building away versus actually seeing what's going on."
The AbilityLab at 355 E. Erie St. [DNAinfo/David Matthews]
The AbilityLab pairs five "innovation centers" with five "ability labs" in the vein of what Paridy calls "translational medicine." The hospital has 242 beds — all in private rooms — and each floor comes with a "hub" allowing patients to eat and hang out together instead of isolation. Each floor has a corner "vista" offering lake and skyline views.
The new building also has a Blackhawks room sponsored by the hockey team in its pediatric wing, and expanded its outpatient facilities fourfold.
The AbilityLab focuses on five areas of treatment: thinking and speaking, legs and walking, arms and hands, strength and endurance, and pediatric care.
One patient who made the move to the new building is Kelly Hogan, 25, of the Gold Coast. Hogan, who was injured in a snowmobile accident, was happy for the new building's "bright and new and modern" decor, wide hallways, and her "corner suite with a lake view."
"The old facility was kind of hospital-y," Hogan said. "This feels more collaborative and open."
The AbilityLab is a non-profit institution. Patients stay an average of 24 days, Paridy said.
The old building was sold to Northwestern University, though the AbilityLab is still leasing some space there.
