CHICAGO, July 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A new era in physical medicine and rehabilitation starts today. That's when the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) breaks ground for a $550 million research hospital that will transform the field by uniting research and clinical care to advance human ability.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and RIC President and CEO, Dr. Joanne C. Smith, will speak today at the groundbreaking event, which begins at 9 a.m. at the site of the new hospital, two blocks south of the RIC's current flagship. An interactive area with live demonstrations of RIC's cutting-edge innovations, including bionic arms and wearable robots, will showcase RIC's pioneering work in biomedical science.

Recognized for more than 20 years as the nation's best rehabilitation hospital, RIC will disrupt the field yet again by introducing a novel model of care that will set the global standard to deliver faster and better outcomes for patients. The heart of RIC's audacious new approach to physical medicine is the fluid integration of researchers, engineers, doctors, nurses, therapists and patients working to identify real-time research breakthroughs that are immediately translated to patient care.

"This is far more than a new hospital. We are reinventing and reframing a model of physical medicine and rehabilitation that did not exist until now embedding research and clinical care, 24/7," said Dr. Smith. "Most medical institutions have research facilities separate from hospitals. At RIC, however, everyone will be in the same place, working shoulder to shoulder around each patient."

Futuristic Model of CareCentral to the new hospital will be five Innovation Centers that leverage RIC's core expertise and market leadership in brain, spinal cord, neuro-musculoskeletal, pediatric and cancer research and recovery. Each Innovation Center will introduce a futuristic model of care that infuses 21st century biomedical science into the clinical environment in ways unlike any other hospital. All human-subject research, applied research and proof-of-concept testing will be embedded with the clinical units in dynamic spaces, called AbilityLabs.

As the active nucleus of each Innovation Center, the five uniquely designed AbilityLabs will bring together clinicians and patients in the same space as scientists, engineers and device developers. Collaboratively, they will focus on the most important challenges their patients face. Inspiration will abound when these teams are intimately knit together with the single-minded purpose to advance a patient's ability. The concept was first introduced in January 2012 via a test-bed prototype on the ninth floor of the current hospital.

"This integrated model of care enables research to become available for patients sooner. Breakthrough research that used to take 10 years from lab to scientific journal to hospital may now be introduced to patients right away," said Dr. Smith. "We will see an enormous acceleration in our ability to understand and to solve patients' problems."

The world's only AbilityLabs will address speech and cognition (speak and think), fine motor (arms and hands), gait and locomotion (legs and walking), coordination and endurance (total body) and pediatrics (all abilities for kids). Each of the differentiated AbilityLabs will have a unique, purpose-based configuration.

"This is a great day for rehabilitation research," said Sen. Kirk, who received state-of-the-art, integrated research and clinical care in RIC's prototype AbilityLab after his stroke last year. "My research and clinical team worked side-by-side with me to help me achieve a number of personal goals. Whenever I thought the task was impossible, everyone at the RIC said, 'You will be able to.' I am living proof of the extraordinary work of this institution and humbled by the generosity of donors who are helping to advance its mission."

Urgent and Ever-Growing Need Nowhere has this extraordinary work made more of an impact than on the nation's military healthcare system. RIC's commitment to developing rehabilitation services for veterans dates back 60 years. Bionic limb innovations led by RIC's Dr. Todd Kuiken and Dr. Levi Hargrove have enabled injured veterans to gain the ability to use their lost limbs via prosthetics that can be controlled by thought.

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RIC to Launch New Era in Rehabilitation Medicine, Break Ground July 1 on New $550 Million Research Hospital