Construction to begin on high–tech rehab complex
August 7th, 2013 | Section: Featured, Local News, Organizational News
Construction is starting on Cedar Village’s aquatic
therapy center, which will have high-tech features
found in only a few places in Greater Cincinnati.
The new complex will have two warm-water pools,
which will be used for individual therapy, and a
larger warm-water pool, which will be used for
group therapy, aerobics classes and lap swimming
as well as individual use by Cedar Village residents.
The smaller pools will have features comparable
to those at the Cincinnati Bengals training facility,
Ohio State’s Athletic Department and the Cleveland
Clinic, including floors that serve as treadmills.
Aquatic therapy offers substantial benefits not
available with conventional treatments because
water reduces the effects of gravity and allows
patients to move with greater ease. That helps
patients recover more quickly and with less pain
than other treatments.
Helping with the ground-breaking are from left, Robert
Rosen, Cedar Village Board Chair; Carol Silver Elliott,
Cedar Village President & CEO; Andrew Shott, Chair, Cedar
Village Foundation; Brian Jaffee, Executive Director, Jewish
Foundation of Cincinnati; Shep Englander, President & CEO,
Jewish Federation of Cincinnati; and Jeff Zipkin, Board
Member, Jewish Foundation & Cedar Village Foundation.
The facility will be called The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Aquatic Therapy Center to honor the
Foundation as the largest donor.
“We are thrilled to be taking rehabilitation services to the next level at Cedar Village,” said Carol Silver
Elliott, Cedar Village’s President and CEO. “We have distinguished ourselves in the region for rehab and
this is an important expansion of that service. It will provide another key modality to help our patients
achieve an optimal recovery and improved quality of life. As we care for more and more individuals, with
an age range from teens to over 100, aquatic therapy offers many benefits and enhanced treatment
options.”
Donors and community leaders as well as Cedar Village residents and employees gathered July 31
for a groundbreaking ceremony in the courtyard where the Aquatic Therapy Center will be. Six Jewish
community leaders, wearing hardhats, grabbed shovels and turned soil. They recited the Shehecheyanu,
a Hebrew blessing recited on special occasions, including new beginnings.
In addition to Elliott, helping with the ground-breaking were Robert Rosen, Cedar Village Board Chair;
Andrew Shott, Chair, Cedar Village Foundation; Brian Jaffee, Executive Director, the Jewish Foundation
of Cincinnati; Shep Englander, President & CEO, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati; and Dr. Jeff Zipkin,
Board Member, Jewish Foundation & Cedar Village Construction will start in August and is scheduled for
completion in mid-2014.
Jaffee said investing in the community’s senior services is a major priority of the Jewish Foundation.
“Making Cincinnati the best Jewish community in the country in which to grow older – and to get
healthier – is an objective our trustees believe is really worth striving for. By investing in Cedar Village
and other senior services, the Foundation is effectively pursuing that.
He added, “The Aquatic Therapy Center provides Cedar Village with yet one more service for those in
need of healing, some of whom may be in the most vulnerable moments of their lives. They can find a
real source of strength in this facility and its staff.”
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This is the second phase of an expansion for Cedar Village’s rehab services. The first phase, which
opened in July 2011, consisted of renovations that greatly expanded the amount of space devoted to
rehabilitation services, including an advanced therapy gym and renovated rooms for short-term rehab
patients.
Separately, Cedar Village opened a satellite rehab location in February at the Mayerson JCC in Cedar
Village offers comprehensive rehab services for people of all ages on an inpatient and outpatient basis
with a wide range of medical conditions.
To house the pools, contractors will construct a one-story, 6,200-square-foot building next to the
existing rehab center. The two buildings will be connected via a 29-foot corridor.
The larger pool will vary in depth from just under four feet to five feet. It will be 21 by 50 feet — about
1,050 square feet. It will have a lift that will make it easy for people with mobility problems to enter the
water.
The two smaller pools will be about nine by seven feet – about 63 square feet each – and used mostly
for one-on-one sessions with aquatic therapists.
The smaller pools will have floors that can be raised and lowered to provide easy access to patients
with mobility problems, including those using walkers and wheelchairs. The floors will be able to go
high enough that the pools would have no water in them. They can be lowered with a hand-held remote
control to a water depth of six feet.
The smaller pools also will have floors that serve as treadmills that can go as fast as 8.5 mph.
In addition, the smaller pools will have underwater cameras with overhead monitors, giving patients and
therapists a view to analyze patients’ movements. Jogging in place, simulated bike riding and modified
jumping jacks are among the exercises that can be done in the smaller pools.
Aquatic therapy is a powerful tool for rehabilitation because the buoyancy of water reduces the stress on
joints, minimizes pain, increases the range of motion and allows patients to exercise longer. For example,
a patient who can only exercise on land for five minutes, perhaps due to obesity, breathing problems or
arthritis, might be able to exercise for an hour in a warm-water
The water improves blood circulation and improves muscle tone. It also lessens the chance of injury from
falling. And because it’s fun, it improves a patient’s mood, decreasing depression.
Aquatic therapy can be used for various conditions, including sports injuries, arthritis, muscle spasms,
chronic pain and total joint replacement.
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