Dundy County Opens Therapy Facilities
(May 2020) When you travel to Benkelman, NE your first impression will be a small quiet town with lots of trees that has excellent hunting and fishing. A pleasant drive around our town will show you that Benkelman was the boyhood home of actor Ward Bond from the series Wagon Train. Mr. Bond is not the only bragging right that our small community has. The Dundy County Hospital with its most recent addition is worthy of bragging rights as well.
Our county-owned non-profit hospital has been in operation for over 5 decades and takes deep pride in providing excellent healthcare to not only our community, but also surrounding communities in Nebraska as well as Kansas and Colorado. In the 5 decades of operation the Dundy County Hospital has expanded its facility offering more comprehensive and up-to-date services to our patient base that consists of over 10,000 outpatient visits and 1,500 inpatient days per year.
The addition of our new Kenneth C. Stout Therapy Center and the Raile Family Foundation Therapy Pool sets our small community well above other communities our size around the state for the therapies that can now be offered to our service area.
Within the new addition speech therapy, occupational therapy, and water therapy are all housed in a state-of-the-art modern facility that allows our therapists all the tools necessary to provide their patients with a vast array of treatments that will help all patients recover more quickly and get them on the path to resume their normal lifestyles.
The Speech Therapy department provides services for all ages in the areas of speech/language impairments, swallowing difficulties, and cognitive deficits as well as now being able to perform Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluations of Swallowing (FEES) which allows further sensitive and accurate evaluation of swallowing functions with the use of a flexible endoscope.
The Physical Therapy department provides patients with pain relief and injury rehabilitation after joint replacements, sports injuries, accidents, and other mobility issues. With the expansion of this department, dry needling is available as well as a new unweighted walking track and aquatic rehabilitation therapies.
Occupational therapy provides services in a holistic perspective, in which the focus is on the whole person and how to adapt their lifestyle to increase their safety and independence. Patients of all ages are enabled to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, and prevent – or live better with- injury, illness, or disability.
The new addition has also expanded our Rural Health Clinic with new clinic rooms, nurses’ station, and provider offices. This has allowed our current medical staff extra room to see the 4000 plus clinic visits that are recorded each year.
Two of our nine In-patient rooms have been renovated to offer a larger bathroom area and bigger rooms that can accommodate a patient and their family members, allowing a family atmosphere during a patient stay.