New rehab area under construction at Cherry Hill Manor

Although there’s no sign reading “Please pardon our appearance” inside the main lobby at Cherry Hill Manor – which is filled with various pieces of rehab equipment – that’s the message Ellen Lang delivered last Friday morning about a “really exciting expansion project” that’s underway at the Johnston facility.

Lang, who is the director of rehabilitation services, announced that for the third time in recent memory, Cherry Hill Manor is giving an entirely new and updated look while at the same time expanding its rehabilitation areas.

Several years ago, construction of the Dr. Michael J. Baccari Comfort Suite began, resulting in a beautiful area that now offers patients complete and easy comfort for loved ones and family members as well as a full-time in-house physician.

“We also have the ‘Ready, Set, Go’ transitional rehabilitation suite,” Lang said of an apartment-style suite that provides a patients with the skills they need to get back home quickly and was the facility’s most recent expansion project.

Now, staffers like Alex Simone, Joe Medeiros, and Tony Fagundo are working tirelessly to complete construction of a new rehabilitation area that will, for example, feature a kitchen where Lang said patients can enhance their cooking skills.

“This entire project [the expansion on Cherry Hill Manor’s main floor just off the lobby] is being done to improve rehab for daily living,” Lang said. “We’ll have a bathroom with a tub, washer and dryer, and other rehab equipment that will give this [1,600-square-foot] area a homey look.”

Loraine DiLorenzo, the facility’s director of marketing, added: “We’re even putting in a huge [picture] window that will further enhance a patient’s rehab progress. Everyone here is really, really excited about what will be a new and beautiful look for our rehabilitation room.”

“Our general goal is to give patients an atmosphere where they can work on becoming independent so that they can go home,” Lang said. “We want to have all the resources to address every skill so patients can return to their homes.”

Lang and DiLorenzo said they’re hoping to have the ambitious construction project completed by the end of October.

Cherry Hill Manor currently has a total of 30 therapists, 20 of whom are on duty seven days a week. “They all strive to help patients master their skill so they can go home. And, once that happens, our therapists actually go to their homes to make the transition easier,” Lang said.

DiLorenzo also noted that Dr. Vincent Vacca has selected as the on-site physician because of his dedication to quality medical care and his patient-fist philosophy.

“Dr. Vacca has been a practicing physician in the Johnston area for the past 47 years,” DiLorenzo said. “He has been at a number of hospitals in the state. He completed fellowships in the hospitals at Yale and Brown universities and now he’s here at Cherry Hill, providing care for our nursing and rehabilitation needs.”

For more information about Cherry Hill Manor, call 401-231-3102.