Select Specialty Hospital - Tallahassee

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

08/19/2025

Retired nurse Edie Brandt feared she wouldn’t survive her recovery for a bowel perforation. Before heading into surgery, she told her husband to call their daughters. “Get them here. I want to tell them I love them and say goodbye.” Edie faced serious complications during her month-long hospitalization but survived. Then she turned to Select Medical Rehabilitation - Tallahassee, located inside Select Specialty Hospital - Tallahassee, to regain strength to get home. “Everyone was so professional and friendly and caring, and I mean emotional caring, not just administering meds and taking care of my wounds,” she said. “This place was top-notch.”

Read Edie's story: https://bit.ly/45HFefC

08/13/2025

Edie Brandt of Crawfordville (third from right) recently visited Select Medical Rehabilitation - Tallahassee to thank the team for helping her get back home where she’s enjoying her grandchildren again. Edie suffered a perforated bowel and underwent two critical surgeries earlier this spring. After four weeks at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital undergoing life-saving care, the retired nurse transitioned to Select Medical Rehabilitation, located inside Select Specialty Hospital - Tallahassee, to regain strength and her ability to live independently again. She says inpatient rehabilitation is hard work – especially learning to walk again – but “the three weeks I was here it was amazing. They were so professional and friendly and caring.” Edie drives a school van in retirement and made it back to work this week in time for the start of a new academic year.

07/04/2025

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

06/19/2025

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

04/11/2025

Select Medical Rehabilitation – Tallahassee’s first patient has officially begun her journey at the new acute rehabilitation unit. A month earlier, Juanita Cone, 87, arrived at the Select Specialty Hospital – Tallahassee critical illness recovery hospital with acute respiratory failure and heart complications. Within 30 days, her care team and family helped Juanita progress. She was able to transition down the hall to the rehabilitation unit, which opened on April 8. Now Juanita is working hard in therapy with her care team and making incredible strides. She’s looking forward to the next phase of her recovery journey.

04/03/2025

Patients in Florida’s Big Bend and South Georgia who are recovering from catastrophic illness or injury will soon have access to a continuum of care under one roof. Select Medical Rehabilitation – Tallahassee held a ribbon cutting on April 2, 2025 for a 12-bed inpatient acute rehabilitation unit (ARU) that will open to patients next week. The unit is located inside Select Specialty Hospital – Tallahassee, a critical illness recovery hospital, and will provide care programs and services that help patients regain independence so they can return to their homes and communities.

Pictured left to right are: Megan Van Name, director of rehabilitation; Mary Stoffiere, vice president of therapy services; Liza Witmer, director of business development; Dr. Pritesh Patel, medical director; Joey Swiney, CEO; Adam Principe, regional vice president; Talina Williams, chief nursing officer and Connie Miller, regional director of business development.