Gateway Transitional Care Center celebrates new outpatient therapy clinic and trach unit
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – Gateway Transitional Care Center has been an essential healthcare facility in Pocatello, serving inpatients in rehab for injuries, surgeries, accidents and illnesses. June 22 marked the opening of a double-facility expansion to offer outpatient therapies and vent/trach care for respiratory patients.
The newly remodeled vent/trach unit is the only of its kind in Southeast Idaho, which CEO Gavin Monteath said was essential post-Covid.
"This project had a lot of different phases, it was a private hospital wing and then an Alzheimer's and dementia unit," Monteath said. "We had architectural plans for both, it got shifted to a vent/trach unit where we're able to take patients with mechanical breathing needs, which has been a big need in the community since Covid hit."
From Boise to Salt Lake City, Gateway is the only facility with state-of-the-art vent and trach equipment for respiratory care. During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Monteath said they even considered turning the bottom floors of the building into a daycare for nurses' children. After such a long process to make use of the space, the team at Gateway was excited to open it to the community for tours.
"We've had failures, we've had successes, and now the entire community is behind us so we can open up this unit," Monteath said. "It means more than a lot of things to a lot of people."
The facilities are also located on Memorial Drive adjacent to the Idaho State University Campus, providing internship and learning opportunities to students entering the medical field.
"They get a firsthand look at what it's like to take care of patients that have a high acuity need and high clinical need," Monteath said. "The experience they get here at Gateway is far beyond anything they're going to get anywhere else in the community."
With the opening of their brand new 10,000-square-foot Outpatient Therapy Clinic, Director of Rehab Gina Marsh said they'll be able to service not only more community members, but more students in various theraputic fields.
"We have ISU students for occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and now with our trach unit we'll also have respiratory therapy," Marsh said. "We're hoping to invite students to come in to get experience with that as well, and we have our nursing and CNA students."
ISU students make up a portion of the now over 200-person staff, which Monteath said they've been working towards for several months. They are happy to announce they're fully staffed to provide quality care in the new facilities.
Previously, Gateway held inpatients for short periods of time while they were in rehab. Now, community members can come to the brand new therapy offices and physical therapy gym area for an appointment and head home afterwards.
"It'll operate as a full function outpatient clinic," Marsh explained. "That's really exciting because we have all the disciplines with occupational, physical and speech therapy all under one roof."
These two expansions to the facility have been a long time coming for the management at Gateway. Monteath explained to the community who showed up for the grand opening on July 22 that it took a team of architects, engineers, advisors and nurse management staff to make the project come to life. They now have 102 beds total in the facility.
"People are in the worst situations of their lives when they come to us," Marsh said. "They're really struggling because they used to be completely independent just like everybody else, and all the sudden they're needing help with all of their basic cares. To see that journey of them returning to who they want to be and the lives they want to live is really rewarding."
Monteath said their goal remains to improve the quality of life of their patients, whether long-term at Gateway or for a return home. Esteemed author and quadraplegic Chad Hymas, known for breaking the world record of miles pushed in a wheelchair, attending this morning's grand opening and emphasized that lives will be changed in these facilities.
"I hold this place just as sacred as a religious center," Hymas said. "Because people's lives, that's where my life was transformed."
Hymas continued to say he's toured other facilities for outpatient therapy and vent/trach care, saying Gateway exceeds expectations for equipment and inpatient stay areas.
Monteath said they'll begin putting patients in the unit after the first of August.
"I want the people of Pocatello to understand that we love and support them just as much as they love and support us," Monteath said. "They have faith in us to care for their loved ones and that means more to me and my team than anything else they can say or do."
