Posted on December 21, 2022
Rehabilitation Hospital Celebrates One Year Anniversary Treating Patients in Region
The new Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation at Covenant HealthCare hospital is celebrating one year of restoring hope and freedom through rehabilitation in the Great Lakes Bay Region.
Opening its doors in December 2021, this state-of-the-art facility was the first major hospital construction in Saginaw in decades. Located on the main Covenant campus, the $41 million project was designed specifically for rehabilitation.
What started in 2018 as a joint venture between Covenant HealthCare and Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation has grown with a shared and focused goal of bringing innovative rehabilitation to the Bay Region.
“The new building has been such a blessing to our patients and hospital staff,” said Sally Wagner, director of rehabilitation at Mary Free Bed at Covenant. “Since our doors opened, we’ve been able to treat more patients than before and better help our community get moving and back to their lives.”
Over the past year, patients have had greater access to the most advanced rehabilitative technology available, putting more people on the path to recovery.
One of the first patients to experience the new facility was Gary Stefaniak. Gary, a 71-year-old retired teacher and baseball coach from Essexville, suffered a stroke in early December 2021. After his initial recovery, he transferred to Mary Free Bed at Covenant and was the first person to use his room.
When Gary moved in, he was unable to use his left side. After several weeks of intensive rehabilitation, he made impressive progress and returned home in January. Gary continued with outpatient services and was back to mowing his lawn by the summer.
“You are unbelievable people,” Gary said. “I wish everyone there the best on this one-year anniversary.”
Here from some of the patients in the video below:
