“We’re breaking ground here today on the one, the only free-standing children’s rehabilitation hospital in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky or Tennessee!”
Kent Riddle, CEO of Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, touted the specialized care families will receive at the new Joan Secchia Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital as children recover from serious illness or injury.
“No Michigan child who can benefit from the over 100 programs here will be turned away, regardless of the seriousness or type of their disability or their means to pay.”
The facility will include three floors and offer pediatric therapy, orthotics, prosthetics and bionics, a medical clinic and intensive feeding program as well as private rooms for inpatient rehabilitation and a family resource center.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer supported the public-private partnership funding the $70 million hospital, crediting the location in Grand Rapids as "a hub of medical innovation."
“The hospital will be centered in a region full of companies on the cutting-edge of medical device and pharmaceutical innovation. Its location also ensures Michigan families will not have to travel across multiple states to get their children the care that they need.”
The 24-room expansion will be built across Wealthy Street from the hospital campus and connect through a skybridge walkway.
It will be jointly run by Mary Free Bed and Spectrum Health Helen Devos Children’s Hospital.
The hospital is expected to be finished in 2026.
