“The facility we’re about to see built right here represents a new opportunity for people who need inpatient rehabilitation,” said Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman. “And it’s also a $21 million investment that will create 140 jobs – one more example of the record levels of investment we’re seeing all over Kentucky.”

Frazier Rehabilitation Hospital – Brownsboro, located at 5000 Chamberlain Lane, near the intersection of I-71 and I-265 in the northeast area of Jefferson County, will include approximately 55,000 square feet and cost $21 million. The two-floor rehabilitation facility will have all private rooms and focus on acute rehabilitation for patients who suffer from stroke, traumatic brain injury, neurological disorders, complex orthopedic conditions, amputees and other injuries or disorders. Large multidisciplinary therapy gymnasiums will be outfitted with the latest therapeutic technologies, including augmented reality balance training, therapy bionics and a full-body exoskeleton. The hospital will also include a transitional living apartment – including a fully functional kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom and laundry facilities – designed to simulate a residential apartment, to prepare patients for their daily living tasks before they are discharged home.

“Since I took office as Mayor, creating a healthier Louisville has been one of our core city values, and today’s groundbreaking builds upon that value. By providing breakthrough therapies and cutting-edge treatments, the UofL Health – Frazier Rehabilitation Hospital will improve the lives of Louisvillians and add to our ever-growing health and aging innovation business cluster,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer.

UofL Health – Frazier Rehabilitation Institute is recognized nationally as an innovator in rehab care. For more than six decades, patients from across the world have sought out Frazier Rehab for life-enhancing treatments and therapies. In the last year alone, Frazier Rehab Institute cared for more than 2,000 inpatients and 30,000 outpatient visits at its 17 regional locations.

“While we are certainly proud of Frazier Rehab’s worldwide reputation, transforming care in our community and the Commonwealth is a cornerstone of UofL Health,” said Tom Miller, CEO of UofL Health. “This new hospital means increased access to world-class inpatient rehab care, closer to home.”

The state-of-the-art facility is expected to begin inpatient rehabilitation services in Q1 2023, subject to regulatory and other approvals. In addition to expanding patient access, the new hospital creates an opportunity to increase the number of future nurses and physicians specializing in rehabilitation.

“The University of Louisville’s mission includes preparing professionals who will have a significant impact on our community and the commonwealth,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi, who also serves as chair, UofL Health Board of Directors. “As UofL Health grows, so do the training opportunities. And in a growing community, we will need more doctors and nurses, including rehab specialists.” 

In the late 1920s, Amelia Brown was en route to a University of Kentucky football game when she was involved in a car accident that resulted in serious injuries, including a crushed pelvis, that would affect her for the rest of her life. But as fate would have it, the accident also introduced her to her future husband, Dr. Harry Frazier, who served as her attending physician.

Throughout the next 20 years, Amelia spent significant time traveling between Louisville and The Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation in New York City. Since Louisville had no physical rehab facilities available, she was inspired to create a physical rehabilitation center so that others would not be burdened by the stress of travel during recovery. She began a grassroots effort to create such a center and in 1954, the Louisville Rehabilitation Center was opened in a portion of the basement of Louisville General Hospital. 

In 1965, a freestanding hospital opened in its current location on Abraham Flexner Way, and in 1984 was renamed the Amelia Brown Frazier Rehabilitation Center in recognition of her leadership in the organization.

“My grandmother didn’t create the rehabilitation center as a monument to herself, but rather out of her own experiences with rehabilitative care,” said Sandra Frazier, granddaughter of Amelia Brown Frazier. “I have no doubt she would be amazed at how the Rehab Institute has grown and evolved over 65 years.”

While Frazier has seen success in many areas of rehabilitation, its focus on brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation has resulted in life-changing results for patients and their families. In 2010, it opened the Michael Brent Resource Center for spinal cord patients and their families, and in 2011 was selected by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research as a Spinal Cord Injury Model System. In 2013, Frazier introduced the EMERGE Brain Injury program, a groundbreaking diagnostic tool designed to diagnose and treat patients with low levels of consciousness.

Integral to this ongoing innovation is the decades-long partnership with University of Louisville and its Medicine, Nursing, Allied Health, and Speed Engineering departments, which was further solidified earlier this year when UofL purchased KentuckyOne Health, including Frazier Rehab. This partnership has allowed for countless innovations, including a pediatric treadmill introduced just this year, which is designed to help children with spinal cord injuries recover the ability to sit, stand, or even walk. 

“Frazier Rehab has had the privilege of improving the quality of life of thousands of patients throughout its rich history, and the innovations developed here and implemented at other facilities extend that ripple of impact even further,” said Cathy Spalding, chief administration officer of Frazier Rehab Institute. “We could not be more grateful for our continued and ever-strengthening relationship with University of Louisville, which allows us to look forward to many more years of changing lives.”