Select Specialty Hospital - Camp Hill

09/23/2025

We’re pleased to announce the DAISY regional award winners for our critical illness recovery hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation hospitals. Recognized by patients, colleagues and families for the extraordinary care they provide, these nurses are fully invested in their patients’ recoveries: https://bit.ly/3KiGxKG

Critical Illness Recovery Hospitals DAISY Winners
Select Specialty Hospital – Camp Hill: Bhawana Baskota
Select Specialty Hospital – Columbus: Caroline Weber
Select Specialty Hospital – Ann Arbor: Cheryl Moran
Regency Hospital – Cleveland West: Ivana Gacic
Select Specialty Hospital – Wheeling: Jill Blake
Select Specialty Hospital – Belhaven: Kallie Law
Select Specialty Hospital – Fort Myers: Marsha Reid
Select Specialty Hospital – Grosse Pointe: Nicole Riley
Select Specialty Hospital – Downriver: Sanar Hermiz
Select Specialty Hospital – Springfield: Thomas Klouse

Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals DAISY Winners
Banner Rehabilitation Hospital West: Cecille “Joy” Alima
Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation - Chester: Divina Macagba
California Rehabilitation Institute: Fely Ann Vilk
Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation - West Orange: Izabela Skorupski
Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation - West Orange: Peyton Taylor

Learn more about exciting employment opportunities with Select Medical by viewing our openings here
https://bit.ly/4nLKxBX

DAISY Foundation

We’re pleased to announce the DAISY regional award winners for the second quarter of 2025. These nurses have earned praise for their extraordinary care from patients, families and colleagues. Here’s what makes them special:

09/13/2025

A traumatic car crash left Zecharias “Z” McKinney with a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the waist down. He needed help just to sit upright in bed and he wondered how this injury would affect life ahead. Z arrived at Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation - Dallas feeling little hope. But despair turned to determination when he started working with the hospital’s care team. They helped him rebuild strength, taught him mobility strategies and rekindled his hope for the future.

To learn more about Select Medical’s network of hospitals, visit: https://www.selectmedical.com/about-us/

A traumatic car crash left Zecharias “Z” McKinney with a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the waist down. He came to Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation - Dallas to learn how to live independently.

09/11/2025

Never Forget.

09/10/2025

Some patients watch the clock for a special moment—regular food day.

A speech-language pathologist at Helen M. Simpson Rehabilitation Hospital in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, remembers a patient who pushed himself every day to improve his swallowing ability. He started by digesting thin liquids and advanced to slowly chewing and swallowing solids all toward one tasty goal: his wife’s lasagna. Once he passed his swallowing tests and got care team approval, his wife brought it to him along with a slice of homemade peach pie.

Another speech-language pathologist at Northshore Rehabilitation Hospital in Lacombe, Louisiana, helped a patient practice swallowing like it was an Olympic event. His payoff: a trip to the hospital’s annual crawfish boil. Peeling the crawfish was a chance to exercise his fine motor skills. But eating them? The pure bliss of a hard-won, gold medal.

Sometimes an injury to the back or neck comes between food-loving patients and their nosh of choice.

Spinal cord injuries – particularly in the C1 and C2 vertebrae at the base of the skull – can cause dysphagia, or an inability to swallow. About 41% of people with quadriplegia suffer difficulty swallowing, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Often the problems are temporary and caused by inflammation after surgery. Doctors often perform assessments to find muscles not doing their jobs.
If they spot muscle weaknesses, therapists can apply a range of techniques to address those muscle deficiencies. Patients may do chin tucks against resistance or move food around their mouth differently to compensate for weaknesses. There’s even a device that operates like a bench press for your tongue—resistance training which builds the muscles that move food from mouth to throat.

Most of all, therapists ask patients to practice swallowing.
Often it takes plenty of practice to get back to solid food. Patients start with liquidized food, move to pureed, minced-and-moist, soft and bite-sized, easy-to-chew and finally … regular foods, that special moment.

09/09/2025

Respiratory therapists (RTs) are frequently part of the care team for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients in our critical illness recovery hospitals. Depending on the level of injury or loss of function, RTs provide:
• Tracheostomy and ventilator support
• Breathing exercises
• Oxygen and secretion management

RTs are heavily involved in treating patients with significant loss of function, or where the SCI interferes with the muscles involved in breathing. Therapists will work to free the patient from the ventilator, or if that isn’t achievable, reduce dependence on the device to the lowest level possible.

As part of the care team, RTs also help with returning a patient’s voice using a speaking valve, assist with the mobility of ventilated patients and manage oxygen levels during intense physical and occupational therapy sessions.

RTs play a key role in patient and family training as well, teaching tracheostomy care and secretion management techniques.

09/06/2025

After collapsing in his bathroom, doctors diagnosed Bobby Smith with osteomyelitis of the thoracic vertebrae, a rare infection of the spine that causes the bone to weaken. After spinal surgery, Bobby spent three weeks recovering in the ICU before transitioning to Select Specialty Hospital - West Tennessee. There, a physician-led care team developed a personalized treatment plan to help Bobby recover from his spinal cord injury and get one step closer to returning home.

To learn more about Select Medical’s network of hospitals, visit: https://www.selectmedical.com/about-us/

Bobby Smith, 52, underwent spinal surgery after a bacterial infection weakened his vertebrae. He spent three weeks recovering in the ICU, unable to move, stand up or walk. To help him return to his feet, Bobby was transferred to Select Specialty Hospital - West Tennessee. There he would complete a c...

09/05/2025

Stacy Wilhelm was a busy teacher, author, wife and mother before complications following heart surgery landed her in an intensive care unit. Stacy was in and out of consciousness for five weeks, lost her left hand and several times, her family steeled themselves for the worst. Stacy never gave up. When she finally stabilized, she turned to the multidisciplinary team at Select Specialty Hospital - Dallas Plano to help her relearn to breathe, eat, talk and get back on her feet. Stacy’s grit and hard work paid off when she danced with her son at his wedding.

Read her story here: https://bit.ly/480SuhR

09/04/2025

For those living with a spinal cord injury (SCI), most want to know how their quality of life will change.

Our teams are often asked:
“When can I resume doing what I love to do?”
“Will I be able to return to school or work?”

Through our personalized treatment plans for every SCI patient, our therapy and clinical teams create a foundation of skills to support the entire recovery journey. We focus on stretches, weight shifts in wheelchairs and joint range of motion exercises just to name a few. These skills help to set up our patients for achieving their recovery goals following injury.

This month, we’ll be highlighting our “Back to Basics” series, covering each care team member’s role in a SCI patient’s journey.

09/02/2025

September marks Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Awareness Month. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, approximately 17,000 Americans acquire an SCI each year.

No two SCIs are the same, and a patient’s outcome can vary based on a number of factors, including the level of early intervention care and intensive rehabilitation.

Throughout SCI Awareness Month, we’ll be introducing a “Back to Basics” series, sharing information about SCI and how our care teams support patients as they work to recover as much function as possible.

09/01/2025

This Labor Day, we extend our gratitude to all health care professionals who dedicate themselves to the care of their patients and the well-being of the communities they serve.

08/26/2025

Laz Reeder’s surgical complications caused respiratory failure so severe that a ventilator’s highest settings couldn’t deliver enough oxygen. Laz, 35, was then connected to ECMO, a specialized life support. As his wife Sierra waited and prayed by his side, family cared for their infant daughter. One month later, Laz was healing but still fed through tubes, too weak to care for himself and unable to walk more than a few steps. He and Sierra turned to Select Specialty Hospital - Pensacola and its inpatient rehabilitation, Select Medical Rehabilitation - Pensacola, to continue his recovery. Today, Laz is home, back to work and enjoying his family.

Read his story here: https://bit.ly/4fV8ynu

07/04/2025

We wish you and your family a safe and happy Fourth of July.

06/25/2025

Long Island, New York resident and nurse Cristina Espiritu researched recovery options following Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder where the body’s immune system attacks the nerves causing muscle weakness, tingling sensations and, in severe cases, paralysis. Cristina’s severe GBS left her unable to breathe, eat, talk or walk on her own. For recovery, she chose Select Specialty Hospital – Camp Hill for specialized care and proximity to family.

Read about Cristina’s journey and successful return home to her family: https://bit.ly/44wTRTn

06/19/2025

Today, we acknowledge the importance of Juneteenth, which commemorates the abolition of slavery.

06/17/2025

Country music singer Jimmy Charles made a surprise visit to Select Specialty Hospital - Camp Hill this past weekend to perform a solo concert for a special patient. Pete Sawyer has been living with ALS for more than 10 years and has been hospitalized for a month. When Jimmy heard that Pete, a longtime fan, was having a difficult time, he visited Pete ahead of a performance to play a few songs and lift his spirits. WPMT FOX43 ran a short segment about the story.

08/08/2024

After two months in a hospital battling complex medical issues, Frank Sykes was ready for the next step in his recovery. His daughter faced a decision: a critical illness recovery hospital or a nursing home? Her father couldn’t breathe, eat, think, speak or walk on his own. Frank’s daughter chose Select Specialty Hospital – Camp Hill because she thought it would give him the best chance at recovery. Frank made tremendous progress. “You all saved my life,” he said of the care team at the specialty hospital. Frank then chose Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital to continue regaining strength before returning home.

Read Frank's story here: https://www.selectspecialtyhospitals.com/locations-and-tours/pa/camp-hill/camp-hill/page-data/location-detail-tabs/success-stories/franklin-sykes/

07/11/2024

Matthew Cherry collapsed in his driveway after calling 911 because of an intense burning sensation in his chest. Doctors diagnosed him with an aortic dissection, and Matthew underwent seven surgeries and was sedated for three weeks before he was stable. Unable to eat, breathe, walk or talk, Matthew needed specialized care to begin his healing journey. For that, he was transferred to Select Specialty Hospital - Camp Hill.

Read Matthew's story here: https://bit.ly/4eR56t0

04/25/2024

Lawrence Sulipizio, a 73-year-old veteran and retired supervisor, experienced a stroke and acute respiratory failure that left him unable to care for himself. At Select Specialty Hospital – Camp Hill, Lawrence, with the support of his family and a physician-led care team, worked hard to return to independence.

Read his full story here: https://bit.ly/3WbtNtr