Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network plans to harness 3D printing and other emerging technology to provide patients new levels of rehabilitative care when it opens its new hospital in early 2023.
Good Shepherd is set to break ground on its new inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Center Valley on Sept. 22. Michael Spigel, CEO of Good Shepherd, said the new four-story, 76-bed hospital will be the only free-standing rehabilitative hospital in the Lehigh Valley.
But the 3D printing, automation and wearable artificial intelligence labs Good Shepherd plans to establish in partnership with Moravian University is what will make the hospital unique, Spigel said. He said Good Shepherd plans to have the labs operational when they open in early 2023.
Moravian already has 3D printers available in its computer science and occupational therapy programs, university President Bryon Grigsby said. The partnership will allow Moravian to share expertise and knowledge of this technology with Good Shepherd, while the hospital will provide a real-world clinical setting for new research and development that students and faculty at Moravian can work in.
“Both institutions are putting research dollars into a research center that will help the faculty from Moravian University and practitioners from Good Shepherd work in conjunction with each other to improve the lives of the patients they serve,” Grigsby said.
Spigel said 3D printing has already been used in health care settings to make implants but it has not gained widespread use in a rehabilitative medicine context — Good Shepherd plans to change that.
In-house 3D printing will have a number of advantages, he said. One is that instead of patients having to use prefabricated, off-the-shelf splints or braces, Good Shepherd will be able to create custom aids made specifically to meet patients’ needs.
“Somebody who had a stroke, for example, let’s say one arm is very, very weak. a therapist could fabricate a specific type of aid for that person that might allow them to pick up a water bottle or pick up a fork or use their arm or use their hand,” Spigel said.
As clinicians become more accustomed to what the technology is capable of and as research creates new opportunities for 3D printing, options for patients will expand. There may be a cost benefit to patients and the hospital, Spigel said, but that wasn’t the primary motivating factor to adopt the technology.
He said Good Shepherd wants to lead the field of rehabilitative care in the use of 3D printing technology, as well as become leaders in research, teaching and development of new uses for the technology.
The new hospital will also feature an area focusing on helping patients and their family members learn how to use automating technologies to control their environments and improve their quality of life.
Technology such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa can be used for controlling a thermostat or to play music, but Spigel said they present a special opportunity in helping people with disabilities control their environment. But he said for many people with disabilities the process of choosing and learning to use the technology can be daunting.
Good Shepherd wants its automation lab to be a place where anyone in the Lehigh Valley or beyond can learn the right technology for them, how they can get it, how to use it and how to program it.
Spigel said the third lab will focus on wearable technology equipped with artificial intelligence, which will be hitting the market over the next couple years. He said this technology will be especially beneficial to patients with paralysis by providing greater movement options for them.
Morning Call reporter Leif Greiss can be reached at 610-679-4028 or lgreiss@mcall.com.