Community-Based Rural Rehabilitation Network
The Community-Based Rural Rehabilitation Network (CBRRN) is a collaborative that includes:
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Individuals who have been impacted by neurological impairments such as spinal cord injury, stroke, and traumatic brain injury.
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Providers who serve them.
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Members of communities in which they live.
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Researchers who investigate these impairments to identify, develop and disseminate information and strategies to improve outcomes and quality of life.
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CBRRN goals include:
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Translating basic science findings into clinical trials.
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Developing evidence-based rehabilitation strategies to promote long-term functional independence for individuals with neurological impairment.
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Conducting research that is focused on helping individuals with neurological impairment to reintegrate into their communities as successfully as possible.
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This is critical to long-term health and quality of life-related challenges for individuals who are treated at UK and Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital, and then return to rural communities in eastern Kentucky where basic medical care may be scarce, and where the multidisciplinary care required to support patients with severe neurological trauma may be lacking or even unavailable.
Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital is a regional, freestanding, not-for-profit rehabilitation hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, with specialty units for pulmonary, spinal cord, brain injury and general rehabilitation. It serves approximately 10,000 clients per year, with 2,300 inpatient admissions in 2005.
Cardinal Hill is the largest provider of inpatient rehabilitation service for clients with Medicaid in Kentucky, serving 79 percent of all the Medicaid rehabilitation inpatients from rural eastern Kentucky in 2006. This large rural patient base has generated Cardinal Hill's strong research interest in underserved populations.
Researchers at Cardinal Hill and the UK College of Health Sciences' Department of Rehabilitation Sciences are collaborating to explore supports and barriers for rural rehabilitation clients as they return home. The CBRRN is a crucial link in this translational research.