Rehabilitation and Wellness Center

Whether you’re recovering from a stroke, illness, surgery or injury, our Rehabilitation and Wellness Center at Bridgeport Hospital Milford Campus can help get you home faster. Our rehabilitation, nursing and medical staff offers round-the-clock care seven days per week.

We offer intensive one-on-one daily therapy. Stays for most patients range from 7-14 days. With individualized therapy, our patients improve faster and spend less time in the hospital. That means you can get back to your life and your daily activities sooner.

Our center is one of the few acute inpatient rehabilitation centers with board-certified physiatrists on staff. A physiatrist is a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation to restore function after illness or injury. Our physiatrists personally coordinate your care with a team of expert physicians, nurses, therapists and counselors who are focused on your needs and getting you better.

Conditions we treat:

• Amputations
• Bilateral total joint replacement
• Brain injury
• Congenital anomalies
• Hip fracture
• Major multiple trauma
• Neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome and Parkinson’s disease
• Operative and non-operative spinal conditions
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Severe burns
• Spinal cord injury
• Stroke

The Rehabilitation Unit is often the first step in a continuum of care that then extends into the home and the community.

Yale New Haven Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Wellness Center earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval^® for Stroke Rehabilitation Certification by demonstrating continuous compliance with its performance standards. The Joint Commission awarded this certificate based on a review of compliance with national standards, clinical guidelines and outcomes of care. The Gold Seal is a symbol of quality that reflects a health care organization’s commitment to providing safe and quality patient care.

Rehabilitation Team

Our rehabilitation experts work with you, your physicians and your loved ones to get you home as soon as possible. We develop and revise your individual plan of care daily.

• Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN)
• Chaplains representing all faiths
• Consulting physicians
• Dietitians
• Hospitalists
• Neurologists
• Neuropsychologist
• Nurse case managers
• Occupational therapists
• Patient and family
• Physiatrist or rehabilitation physician
• Physical therapists
• Physician specialists
• Prosthetic/orthotic technicians
• Rehabilitation nurses
• Social workers
• Speech therapists

Current available consult services:

• Cardiology
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Neuropsychology
• Podiatry
• Psychiatry
• Urology
• Wound care

Discharge planning is an ongoing process starting from the time of admission and involves the entire interdisciplinary team.

What we offer: 

• A clinical team that develops an individualized care plan for you.
• One-on-one intensive physical, occupational and/or speech therapy for three hours per day up to seven days a week.
• A specialized gym designed to maximize your ability to improve balance, coordination and mobility.  The 1,800 square-foot gym is equipped with state-of-the-art neuromuscular and balance equipment.
• A focus on activities of daily living in our therapeutic kitchen and bathrooms. You will accomplish bathing, dressing, cooking, laundry, and home management tasks in order to regain your highest level of function.
• Education for you and your caregiver to better understand your needs and your rehabilitation plan. Family members or caregivers may attend therapy sessions for training prior to your return home.

A healing environment 

• The Rehabilitation and Wellness Center is designed for soothing, holistic healing to treat and bring comfort to the body, mind and spirit.
• The 23-bed unit is staffed by Yale New Haven Hospital physicians and rehabilitation nurses.
• Specially designed rooms have larger beds and higher weight capacity to accommodate the needs of all patients.
• Language translation services are free to caregivers and visitors.
• We encourage you to wear your own comfortable clothing and supportive shoes. Please bring your personalized toiletries.

Because the center is located within a Yale New Haven Health facility, patients also have access to:

• Electronic medical records in a single, efficient system that follows a patient through their lifetime of care
• Rapid lab results from an on-site laboratory
• On-site acute care and emergency medical services
• Private hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis rooms are available

Education for patients and caregivers

We help patients and caregivers better understand the patient’s needs and rehabilitation plan. We also welcome family members and/or caregivers to therapy sessions for training prior to the patient’s return home.

Treatment plans may include an assessment of the patient’s home environment, if indicated. One of our rehabilitation experts can come to your home, assess your home entrance, stairs, kitchen set-up and layout, check doorways and area rugs, and ensure the bathroom is equipped so you can maneuver safely.

Support when you leave the hospital

Along with our rehabilitation experts, our care coordinator will develop a plan to make your transition back to home as smooth as possible. We will arrange for medical equipment or home-care services, as needed.

Support groups

The center extends its patient care by providing support services, including stroke and amputee support groups. The amputee support group meets on the second Tuesday of every month from 4 - 5 pm. The stroke support group meets on the third Wednesday of every month from 3:30 - 4:30 pm. Both groups meet virtually via Microsoft Teams.

Learn more about support groups here.

Why YNHH for Inpatient Rehabilitation?

Patient care and recovery is the focus of what we do to get patients back to their homes and regular activities. In recent years, our center received the Press Ganey “Guardian of Excellence Award” for achieving patient satisfaction scores above the 95th percentile each month during the previous fiscal year. The award recognizes the center for its exceptional patient care in providing one-on-one, intensive therapy for patients from throughout the region with neurological disorders, trauma, limb loss, joint replacements and other conditions. 

Press Ganey is a national provider of patient experience measurement, performance analytics and strategic advisory solutions for healthcare organization.