Baltimore County Gets New Housing For State's Largest Rehab Facility

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) -- A home away from home. That's the focus of a new rehab facility in Baltimore County.

Jessica Kartalija explains it's all designed to take care of patients when they are most in need.

In July 2012, 26-year-old Shawna Deloney of Tulsa, Okla., suffered a traumatic brain injury. She spent a total of 15 days in a coma and needed intensive rehabilitation, which brought her family to Baltimore.

"Hearing that story every time is really hard for me," she said.

She was treated at the University of Maryland Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Institute, formerly known as Kernan.

"By us coming from Oklahoma, we didn't know our way around the neighborhood so we had to find a hotel that was nearby," said her mother, Margaret Burley.

Now that's about to change.

"We are thrilled and honored to be celebrating today the groundbreaking for the Hackerman and Patz House here on our campus," said Dr. Michael Jablonover, the institute's president and CEO.

Families of patients at the University of Maryland Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Institute will now have a home away from home while their loved one is being treated.

"If it's all right here, it would be more convenient so the family wouldn't have to find a hotel, pay the extra money in hotel fees and try to get back to spend time with your loved one," Burley said.

The facility is named for Willard Hackerman, the late Baltimore businessman and former CEO of Whiting Turner, and his wife, Lillian Patz Hackerman.

"It will make so much of a big difference while the family is making their journey," Burley said.

The University of Maryland Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Institute is the largest in-patient rehabilitation hospital in the state of Maryland. The facility is expected to be complete by 2015.

Other Local News: