Photos by MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Highland Ridge Rehab Center staff members Danielle Hiatt (left) and Nancy Jarrell talk to residents on the front porch of the center in Dublin. The front porch is a major attraction for the residents and staff.

Highland Ridge Rehab Center resident Otha Taylor sits in a spot of sunlight in the central hallway of the facility in Dublin.

| Mary Hardbarger

DUBLIN -- A state-of-the-art addition is planned for Highland Ridge Rehab Center -- an expansion that will nearly double the size of the 39,000-square-foot facility and breathe new life into the 41-year-old building.

A groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. today at the future site of a 33,000-square-foot wing that will allow expansion of the center's rehabilitation department, dining and therapeutic services and recreational therapy programs.

The wing will house a community and game room, a dining area, private resident rooms boasting "homelike" features and an aqua therapy pool -- an addition that marketing director Peggy Rogers said will "set us above everyone else."

The pool, Rogers said, can help treat many diagnoses and will help patients recovering from hip or knee replacements, for example, to recover quicker.

Highland Ridge Rehab offers short- and long-term rehabilitation programs.

Capacity of the facility will remain at 132, but the addition of new rooms will create more space for patients. The center currently offers just two private rooms, but when the new addition is completed, about 50 will be available.

The wing is just part of the $5.5 million project the center will undergo to adjust to the changing needs and requests of patients that Bart Williams, center administrator, described as the "culture change."

"Today, we give residents what they want, when they want it," he said.

It's a change Williams said is taking place across the health care sector.

"I don't care how old or young you are, people want to have their laptops ... their big-screen TVs," he said. "They want the comfort of their own homes wherever they are."

Williams' parents, Dae and the late Dorn Williams, purchased Highland Ridge Rehab in 2000 and took over its operations in 2001. His brother, Victor, is the president and CEO of The Landmark Group, which owns Highland Ridge and two other health care facilities in Stuart.

Bart Williams said his father was a visionary who wanted to make sure everybody got their "bang for their buck."

"It's first class or go home," he said.

Williams said the center is financing the project, but he believes revenue made by the additional enhancements will "almost pay for the project itself."

At the center, flat-screen televisions, large closets, wireless Internet capabilities, new dining options and social areas will be offered to attract younger patients and patients from farther away, Rogers said.

She said patients that may have originally traveled to Roanoke or out of state will now be able to access advanced services close to home.

"It's really a boom for the community," she said.

After the completion of the wing -- which is scheduled for June, the existing rooms will be stripped, redecorated and tailored to patients' needs, Williams said.

Danielle Hiatt, director of admissions, said the new addition will most likely increase the number of employees in the rehabilitation department.