The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), designated “No. 1 Rehabilitation Hospital in America” by U.S. News & World Report every year since 1991, has just received a charitable donation from Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan. The amount, which is being held as confidential, is larger than any other donated ever received by the facility. According to the June 22, 2016 news release, the donation will support AbilityLab, RIC’s state-of-the-art research hospital. When the new hospital opens in March 2017, it will be named the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
According to the news release, “As a result of this extraordinary gift and the significant boost it creates in RIC’s capital campaign, the organization will raise its goal to $350 million. The campaign is expected to close in December 2017. With this gift, Pathways, the entrepreneurial organization founded by the Ryans more than 30 years ago, will join the RIC family immediately and the AbilityLab upon its opening. Pathways, with its clinic and web organization, is the leading resource in early detection and intervention tools that maximize children’s motor, sensory, and communication development.”
“The integration between Pathways, RIC and the AbilityLab is historic—it makes possible a truly better future for children and adults from around the globe who need our support and services, ” said Joanne C. Smith, M.D., RIC president and CEO. “We treasure Shirley and Pat’s trust, and we honor their innovative spirit, boundless compassion and determination to make a difference in the lives of so many people around the world. Through this transformational gift and the growth of the Pathways and AbilityLab family, we will build upon our collective strengths to advance the science, medical care and outcomes for patients everywhere.”
“Both RIC and Pathways are so excited about this powerful union which joins two organizations with common values, purpose, vision and dreams, ” said Shirley Ryan, who has been appointed by two presidents to the National Council on Disability. “We share a long-standing commitment to the advancement of abilities and, with this integration, AbilityLab and Pathways are poised to deepen knowledge, expand therapy and training, and spread global influence further and faster.”
As indicated in the news release, “The $550 million, 1.2-million-square-foot Shirley Ryan AbilityLab will be the first-ever “translational” research hospital in which clinicians, scientists, innovators and technologists will work together in the same space, applying (or “translating”) research real time. The AbilityLab will introduce its revolutionary model of care through five Innovation Centers focused on areas of biomedical science: Brain Innovation Center, Spinal Cord Innovation Center, Nerve, Muscle & Bone Innovation Center, Pediatric Innovation Center, and a Cancer Rehabilitation Innovation Center.”
Dr. Smith told OTW, “We are investing in science and technology more than any other place of our kind in areas of our core expertise—conditions of the brain, spinal cord and neuro-musculoskeletal systems—for adults and children of every age. By embedding science with care in the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, we will break current barriers and discover better outcomes, greater recoveries and inevitably, cures.”
