History

In the 1980s, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health documented an increasing shortage of rehabilitation services in the Cape Cod region. To meet this need, the county government and local community hospitals issued a request for proposals to develop hospital-level rehabilitation services on Cape Cod. Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston — a national leader in rehabilitation and a major affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital — was selected.

The new hospital, the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and Islands (RHCI), opened its doors in October, 1995. It was planned by representatives of the local hospitals, community residents, Spaulding and Massachusetts General Hospitals. RHCI is dedicated to meeting the rehabilitation needs of local residents by providing a continuum of high quality medical and rehabilitation care.

In its first six years, RHCI provided rehabilitation care for more than 15,000 patients. It established its first satellite in 1997, the RHCI-Orleans Outpatient Rehabilitation Center, which serves residents of the Lower and Outer Cape. The RHCI-Yarmouth Outpatient Rehabilitation Center opened in 2001 to serve residents of the Mid-Cape. To expand access to rehabilitation for residents of Falmouth, Bourne, Wareham and surrounding communities, RHCI opened the RHCI-Bourne  Outpatient Rehabilitation Center in May of 2004.

In June of 2004, RHCI admitted its 25,000th patient.

To provide enhanced rehabilitation services for children and their families, the hospital opened the RHCI for Children Eileen M. Ward Rehabilitation Center in April, 2005. The 4000-sq. ft. center is a separate facility dedicated solely to providing rehabilitation care for children with a wide range of illnesses, injuries and disabilities.

In 2005, RHCI officials also decided to develop more advanced rehabilitation services for those with neurologic impairment by creating the RHCI Center for NeuroRecovery. The initial phase involved enhancing RHCI’s long-standing programs for stroke and brain injury rehabilitation and seeking a new level of national accreditation as a Stroke Specialty Program. In April 2006, RHCI became the first hospital in the Northeast to receive this three-year accreditation by the industry’s highest review body, the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

Part of RHCI's mission is to serve as a leader in providing rehabilitation care. To that end, RHCI is engaged in a continuous process of identifying the community's need for rehabilitation services. RHCI has developed more than twenty specialty inpatient and outpatient programs to serve children and adults with specific needs.

With the ongoing leadership of Spaulding and in collaboration with local healthcare institutions, RHCI provides clinical expertise and advanced rehabilitation to residents of Cape Cod, the Islands, the South Shore and South Coast regions.