UAB Spain Rehabilitation Center (SRC) is a leading provider of physical medicine and rehabilitation services. Teams of specialists use innovative therapies to deliver the highest levels of inpatient and outpatient care to those with an injury or disability, with the goal of improving long-term function and quality of life.

The key to reaching that goal is the continuum of care, which is a series of rehabilitation services spanning from the hospital stay to the patient’s return to home and community.

Recovery journey

In ideal cases, patients who have experienced an injury or medical event that requires rehabilitation can return to normal physical ability after treatment by specialists at SRC.

However, patients with severe life-changing conditions – and those with disabilities – often require rehabilitation that may span years or a lifetime. Their recovery journey is a longer path toward as much function and quality of life as possible. SRC helps patients manage that journey through the continuum of care, which is the foundation of the center’s approach.

Elizabeth Twist, M.D., a spinal cord injury physician and assistant professor with the UAB Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, says the continuum of care is a process supported by SRC’s wide range of services.

“Care by a member of our team can begin the moment a patient arrives in the Emergency Department with a traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury, for example,” Dr. Twist said. “Along with myself and two other board-certified spinal cord injury physicians, we have two stroke physicians, one amputee physician, and three brain injury physicians. We all work toward getting patients from the acute hospital over to SRC, to get them started in rehab as quickly as possible.”

Inpatients begin their recovery at the new UAB Rehabilitation Pavilion, a state-of-the art facility where multispecialty care teams provide advanced therapies with the latest equipment, technologies, and recovery environments. Patients receive a highly specialized range of recovery treatments including occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language therapy, recreational therapy, rehab nursing, and rehab psychology.

Each floor is designed to treat a specific type of patients, which allows for patients, families, and care teams to remain on the same unit. This provides more seamless care and helps maintain the proper support for physical, cognitive, and emotional recovery.

After the inpatient rehabilitation stay, patients transition to outpatient services. Care continues with outpatient physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physicians, and community partners. The team creates personalized care plans for patients based on their goals, condition, and phase of recovery.

Afterward, recovery may continue at Lakeshore Foundation, an internationally renowned organization and a SRC community partner that serves those with physical disabilities through physical activity, sport, recreation, and research. After re-entering the community, patients check in with members of SRC team as needed and have regular annual visits with a specialty physician.

To help with the post-rehabilitation transition, UAB Medicine created Empowered Care. This program connects patients with the resources and guidance they need for a better recovery, a smoother return to home and community, and improved overall wellness. It is a collaboration that includes UAB Medicine Outpatient Rehab Services, SRC, UAB Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Lakeshore Foundation, the Alabama Head Injury Foundation, and the UAB School of Health Professions.

A continuum of hope

Darryl Walker is highly familiar with the continuum of care at SRC. He received its 2024 Ambassador of Hope Award, a special honor that goes to a patient, former patient, or family member with a disability whose courage and determination inspire hope in others facing the challenges of disability. Walker, 36, was the victim of a gunshot when he was 17, paralyzing him from the waist down and requiring him to use a wheelchair. Today he works for UAB Guest Services at SRC, where he received physical therapy for his injury years ago.

Walker’s journey from SRC patient to UAB Medicine employee was a long one. Even when it seemed that little progress was being made, his recovery helped him regain and maintain as much independence as possible. His experience helps him now in encouraging SRC patients to persevere.

“I had excellent treatment from a lot of experts at SRC, and it was a matter of keeping on keeping on,” Walker said. “Stretching exercises, swimming therapy, occupational therapy, all those stretches. I thought all that work was not paying off at the time, but now I know that it improved my strength and coordination. It has enabled me to be very athletic.”

Walker plays for the Birmingham Hammers, one of nine teams in the USA Wheelchair Football League. Lakeshore Foundation started the Birmingham team.

Along with traveling with the Hammers to games and tournaments around the nation, Walker also coaches the Wahouma Seminoles, a youth league football team in the eastern area of Birmingham. He stays busy with an active lifestyle, but staff and patients at SRC say that Walker mostly busies himself with supporting and inspiring others.

“I try to head them in the right direction, which means aiming for becoming as independent as possible and always looking forward,” Walker said. “It’s a continuing effort. Life doesn’t stop because you’re in that chair. You keep going.”

UAB Spain Rehabilitation Center is a leading provider of physical medicine and rehabilitation services.