Think about Methodist Rehabilitation Center (MRC) and what comes to mind?
You probably picture a patient balancing between parallel bars in a busy hospital gym. After all, plenty of movies use that image to portray the field of rehab medicine.
But take a tour at MRC, and you’ll see the many extras that make it Mississippi’s premier research and rehabilitation hospital.
Alongside the requisite parallel bars and weight machines, you’ll find patients using some of the latest innovations in rehab technology.
You might spy a young, paralyzed patient pedaling on a stationary bike that electrically stimulates weakened leg muscles. Or watch a wobbly stroke patient practice walking with the aid of a fall-proof harness system.
You might even meet someone like Dr. Michael Montesi, a recent research subject for MRC’s Center for Neuroscience and Neurological Recovery (CNNR).
After recovering from a near deadly case of COVID-19 at MRC, the Delta physician returned to help scientists learn whether decreased physical activity, a change in body position or both is behind the drop in oxygen saturation levels suffered by some long-haul victims of the virus.
As part of the study, Dr. Montesi was strapped into an Erigo-Pro. The device combines a tilt table, functional electrical stimulation and robotic leg movements—technology unavailable in any other therapy gym in Mississippi. It’s among $700,000 worth of robotic rehabilitation devices that help the CNNR bring emerging breakthroughs to the bedsides of patients.
Established in 1997 as the research arm of MRC, the CNNR quickly gained national notice. In 1998, the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research chose MRC as one of only 17 Traumatic Brain Injury Model System sites in the U.S. This resulted in millions of dollars in federal funding, allowing MRC scientists the opportunity to collaborate with other rehabilitation experts around the world.
Today, the donor supported Wilson Research Foundation provides most of the funding for a staff of 10 who continues research in areas ranging from the long-term impact of West Nile virus infection to the management of spasticity, a disabling condition that often strikes people with brain or spinal cord injuries.
The result is more than 320 scientific publications and a reputation for pursuing research that reflects the real-life concerns of people with disabling injuries and illness.
MRC is located on the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Jackson campus, so CNNR researchers have often collaborated with UMMC staff.
But in 2014, that relationship was enhanced by a formal affiliation between UMMC and MRC, a private non-profit. Now, the two institutions work together on neuroscience research, education and clinical care as part of the Neuro Institute at UMMC, the umbrella organization for centers on stroke, addiction and neurotrauma.
MRC brings to the table the experience gained during more than 45 years of helping patients overcome the most severe effects of stroke, brain and spinal injuries, as well as orthopedic trauma and neurological illnesses such as Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome, West Nile virus infection and Parkinson’s Disease.
To stay abreast of rehab protocols, MRC puts an emphasis on educating staff. Its physicians, nurses, therapists, orthotists and prosthetists carry advanced certifications in their fields. And they’re encouraged to share their expertise by training future professionals.
MRC physicians are on faculty at UMMC. And its nursing and therapy programs provide necessary clinical rotations for students finishing their degrees.
One advantage for those students is MRC can offer more than just training in a hospital setting. In keeping with the center’s mission to support patients throughout their recovery, MRC oversees a comprehensive array of outpatient clinics and services.
MRC’s Flowood campus, for instance, is home to physical medicine and pain management physicians, outpatient therapy clinics focused on orthopedic and neurological conditions, an assistive technology clinic, the headquarters for MRC’s orthotic and prosthetic division and Methodist Specialty Care, a residential care facility for younger, severely disabled people.
In addition, there is an outpatient clinic in Ridgeland and orthotics and prosthetic locations in Flowood, Meridian, Starkville, Cleveland, Oxford, Hattiesburg, Biloxi and Monroe, La.
It all came to be because MRC isn’t like other hospitals, where rehab is one job among many. Since 1975, its sole mission has been to help people recover from disabling injuries and illness.
And its outcome measures verify the success of that endeavor. Even though the most severely injured patients come to MRC, some 80 percent return home or to independent living.
And like Dr. Montesi, many are grateful that Mississippi is home to MRC. “From where I came to where I am now is amazing,” he said. “I credit a lot of that to the therapists, just the intensity of the therapy, the encouragement of the staff and the program itself.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, MRC cannot schedule tours at this time. But if you’d like to learn more about the center, visit methodistonline.org.
