HOSPITAL ENTERS WORK PLACE OPERATIONS AGREEMENT

Southeast Missouri Hospital and HealthSouth Rehabilitation Corp. have entered into an agreement in regard to operation of the Work Place, 208 Linda.

Effective Wednesday, HealthSouth, headquartered at Birmingham, Ala., began managing the Work Place, an industrial medicine facility, as HealthSouth Industrial Rehabilitation Center of Cape Girardeau.

Southeast Administrator James W. Wente said: "The facility will continue to provide industrial rehabilitation to the injured worker. By combining resources with HealthSouth, we will be able to expand the scope of our services and our service area."

Wente said a 2,800-square-foot expansion is under way at the facility and will provide additional space to meet anticipated demand for services.

Gil Etheridge, regional vice president of HealthSouth Corp., announced that Scott Christ of Cape Girardeau has been named administrator of the HealthSouth operation here. Sam Hite, vocational rehabilitation specialist, has been named rehabilitation center coordinator and Sharon Naughton will serve as clinical director.

"We're excited about the Cape Girardeau operation," said Christ, a physical therapist who was formerly associated with the Human Performance Center. "We're looking forward to working with Southeast Hospital in our Cape Girardeau operation."

Christ, who has been working in physical therapy for six years, has been affiliated with HealthSouth since January, when the Human Performance Center, 20 Mount Auburn Road, and St. Francis Medical Center announced they had joined HealthSouth Rehabilitation Corp.

St. Francis employee membership discounts will continue to be available at the former Human Performance Center.

HealthSouth, the nation's largest provider of rehabilitative services, has more than 100 outpatient facilities and a dozen inpatient rehabilitation facilities in 27 states.

It operates 11 inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation centers in Missouri.

"We also have a facility at Carbondale, Ill.," said Christ. "We currently offer sports and orthopedic medicine there, and hope to start industrial medicine in the near future."

The Work Place was established by Southeast hospital in 1988. It offers industrial rehabilitation in a non-clinical setting.

The Work Place services include highly specialized and individualized rehabilitation and educational services for injured workers as well as on-site consultation services and educational programs for business and industry.