Acute Rehabilitation

Your doctor has recommended inpatient rehabilitation to help you achieve the best recovery—and the Cheyenne Regional Acute Rehabilitation Unit (ARU) team can’t wait to help get you home healthy, safely and as quickly as possible!

Compared to other types of rehabilitation programs, patients treated with inpatient rehabilitation have been shown to:

Go home sooner
Have greater success walking independently
Receive more doctor and nurse time and attention
Have lower rates of readmission to the hospital

Cheyenne Regional’s accredited, 19-bed ARU stands out as an excellent treatment option for inpatient rehabilitation because we create a custom rehabilitation program for each patient, based on their unique condition and goals.

Through intensive rehabilitation services, we’ll help you attain your maximum level of independence to safely transition back home or to a home-like environment.

For more information about Cheyenne Regional’s Acute Rehabilitation Unit and inpatient rehabilitation services, please call (307) 633-7310.

What to look for in an inpatient rehabilitation program

While treatment varies from patient to patient, you’ll achieve the best recovery possible from an inpatient rehabilitation program that includes exercises that address your individual problems.

During inpatient rehabilitation at Cheyenne Regional’s ACU, your comprehensive rehabilitation therapy program will focus on improving the specific areas below, with the goal of helping you return to your normal daily activities:

Balance
Bathing
Dressing
Getting in and out of bed
Memory
Proper diet
Sitting
Speech
Swallowing
Walking

Who can benefit from inpatient rehabilitation?

You may be a good candidate for inpatient rehabilitation in the Cheyenne Regional ARU if you have noticed a decrease in your ability to function in your normal environment, and you have experienced any of the following medical and debilitating conditions:

Amputation
Brain injury
Cardiovascular or pulmonary issues
Hip or femur fractures
Multiple trauma
Neurological conditions such as motor neuron diseases, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, myopathy, Parkinson’s disease, polyneuropathy
Spinal cord injury
Stroke (CVA)
Total hip replacement
Total knee replacement

ARU admissions criteria

To be admitted to Cheyenne Regional’s ARU and begin an inpatient rehabilitation program, you must meet (at minimum) the following criteria:

Require medical oversight from a physician specializing in physical rehabilitation
Require a minimum of two types of therapy (PT, OT or ST)
Require 24-hour rehabilitation nursing
Be able to tolerate a minimum of three hours of therapy a day, five out of seven days/week

For more information, please call the Cheyenne Regional Acute Rehabilitation Unit at (307) 633-7310.

What conditions do we treat in the ARU?

Common conditions treated by inpatient rehab include (but are not limited to):

Amputation
Cardiac conditions
General medical and debilitating conditions
Multiple traumas
Neurological conditions
Orthopedic conditions
Pulmonary conditions
Spinal cord injuries
Stroke
Traumatic brain injuries

Additional rehabilitation services

LSVT Loud, a speech and language therapy-based program that focuses on an evidence-based voice treatment technique for people with Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders
LSVT Big, a physical therapy / occupational therapy-based program that focuses on an intensive whole body amplitude-based training protocol for people with Parkinson’s disease
Cardiac rehab
Cardiopulmonary services
Inpatient therapy
Occupational therapy
Physical therapy
Speech/language therapy
Chronic pain of the joints, neck, back
Electrical stimulation (E-Stim)
Headaches
Pain related to trauma, cancer, other
Physical and psychological assessments
Post-operative pain
Ultrasound

How we create a positive patient experience

When it comes to ensuring the best possible recovery, we take two important factors into account:

Creating a positive patient experience while you’re in the Cheyenne Regional ARU
Supporting a positive outcome, as measured against national benchmarks in key therapy areas (length of stay, discharge to community, and functional improvement)

Below, we’ve shared more about the specific services available during your inpatient rehabilitation, all with the goal of enhancing your patient experience in the Cheyenne Regional ARU.

Comfortable patient rooms

You’re working hard on rehabilitation! To help you rest before and after your therapy sessions, we’ve outfitted each clean, cozy patient room with many of the amenities of home, along with a documentation station for immediate access to charts.

Each of our 15 private rooms includes:

Bathroom and shower
Flat-screen TV
Phone
Sitting area

We’re happy to provide adaptive equipment to accommodate each patient’s unique needs; just ask!

Fully equipped therapy gym

In our spacious, fully equipped therapy gym, you and your clinical care team have plenty of rehab therapy treatment options to explore. In the gym, you’ll have the opportunity to interact with other acute rehabilitation patients, which fosters a wonderful sense of camaraderie and helps keep you motivated to reach your rehab goals.

Outdoor activity area

Studies show that outdoor recreation increases happiness and reduces stress in many people. In fact, even seeing nature through a window speeds recovery from surgery!

Knowing the positive correlations between nature and recovery, we created an outdoor activity area—including a comfortable gazebo—where you can spend time relaxing, enjoying the sunshine and visiting with loved ones before or after your rehab therapy sessions.

If improved walking is one of your rehabilitation goals, practicing outdoors on different types of surfaces can help you better prepare for your daily activities once you are discharged. At the Cheyenne Regional ARU facility, you can practice gait training over a variety of outdoor surfaces, including our circular drive and pathway.

Socialization and recreation opportunities

Your Cheyenne Regional rehabilitation team is committed to ensuring your time with us is as productive and enjoyable as possible—which includes making it feel more like you’re at home or with friends, and less like a hospital stay.

To that end, your inpatient rehabilitation program includes numerous opportunities to socialize with others in the ARU, including:

A recreation, arts and leisure showcase with mandala art, library, piano, games, puzzles, word-search, and karaoke
An area for big-screen television viewing
Community-style dining
Horticulture Therapy treatment
A welcoming sitting area
Access to the internet and computers in our patient/family resource room
Large conference room for family meetings

Socializing offers numerous benefits to your recovery, such as improved confidence, self-esteem, physical health and mental health. It also provides the opportunity for you to receive encouragement and advice from others undergoing rehab therapy, and offer that same encouragement and advice yourself!

Support groups for patients, family and caregivers

Many Cheyenne Regional ARU patients and their family members or caregivers find our support groups to be incredibly encouraging, especially when they get to meet members of the group who share the same problems or goals, and can connect to share advice, ideas, experiences and information.

Within the Cheyenne Regional ARU, we offer the following support groups:

Brain Injury Support Group
Mended Hearts Support Group (for all heart patients and their families affected by heart disease)
Stroke Survivors Support Group