Officials from Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines and Kindred Healthcare today dedicated Iowa’s first free-standing rehabilitation hospital. The 50-bed, 58,000-square-foot facility, located just south of Mercy Clinics Urgent Care West in Clive, is a joint venture between the two organizations and will serve patients rehabilitating from stroke, head injuries, spinal cord injuries or similar conditions. The facility, which features all private patient rooms and an airy therapy gym framed by picture windows, replaces a 14-bed rehab unit that Mercy had operated at its main campus. Nikki Nigg, CEO of Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital, said the hospital will begin accepting patients on June 12. “We’ll start slowly. … We anticipate that within a year we will be full,” she said. “It’s exponentially increasing our ability to care for different types of patients.” The average patient stay is about two weeks, and new patients will be admitted seven days a week. The hospital is currently staffed with 75 employees; when it’s at full capacity that will double to about 150. Next month, state health officials will consider a request from Mercy to build a 100-bed psychiatric hospital just west of the new rehabilitation hospital. For more information visit the hospital website here.