In 100 years, rehabilitative medicine has gone from a fledgling, unexplored field to a massive, multibillion-dollar specialty, and a venerable Westchester hospital has played a unique role in that growth.
Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in April, has a display of historical items in the lobby of Wood Pavilion on the campus. Visitors can examine the transformational role that Burke has played in rehabilitative medicine, which began before World War I.
Founded by John Masterson Burke through his charity, the Winifred Masterson Burke Relief Foundation, the hospital opened in April 1915 on land purchased from the Society of New York Hospital.
“The diseases and conditions that we treat have changed and undoubtedly will change in the next century,” said Dr. Mary Beth Walsh, the medical director at Burke, in remarks at the dedication of the historical display at Wood Pavilion. Visits to the display are free.
Among the items in the display are John Masterson Burke”™s pocket watch, a World War I-era U.S. Navy uniform and architectural drawings of the hospital campus from McKim, Mead & White, the famed firm that also designed New York”™s Pennsylvania Station and Columbia University”™s Morningside Heights campus, among other significant works.
In the early days, Burke treated patients with “splints, crutches and casts,” Walsh said. “Our ability to treat patients has changed significantly, although those things do still provide a lot of help.”
“One hundred years ago, rehab ”” the specialty ”” didn”™t really exist, and this wasn”™t called a hospital,” Walsh told the Business Journal. Originally, Burke treated patients with heart disease, pneumonia, and other ailments with a combination of rest and exercise. “It was rest and exercise in the proper mix. It was really fairly simple.”
Walsh, a rheumatologist, has spent her 35 years at Burke researching treatments for arthritis, which used to be a crippling disease.
“I came here because there was an overwhelming need to develop a whole service for crippled rheumatoid arthritis patients, some of whom were quite young,” Walsh said. Previously, Burke had a “long-standing neurological focus. And the progress and change that has been made in my life in medical science is astounding.”
Nowadays, Walsh said that it is extremely rare for a patient with rheumatoid arthritis to end up crippled.
In addition to patient care, Burke maintains a strong research focus. Among the many notable researchers at Burke is Barry Jordan, one of the first neurologists to focus on the effects of contact sports such as boxing and football on the brain.
- White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach, center, and Burke Rehabilitation Hospital Executive Medical Director Dr. Mary Beth Walsh and Dr. Rajiv Ratan pose for a photo with a proclamation from the city of White Plains celebrating the hospital”™s 100th anniversary.
In addition to his role at Burke, Jordan is the chief medical officer for the New York State Athletic Commission, and has been named to the NFL Players Association Mackey-White Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, the NCAA”™s concussion task force and the Pop Warner Football advisory committee. His work has made him a significant figure in the research and discussion of brain trauma caused by repetitive injury from sports.
“When I first started working with boxing, I had suspicions that it would involve other sports, including soccer, football, hockey and rugby,” Jordan told the Business Journal last summer. “My major concern regarding boxing and contact and collision sports are the long-term consequences associated with participation in those sports, and the possible link between repetitive traumatic brain injury and the risk of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders.”
Illustrative of how far rehabilitation has come in 100 years, the historical display shows Burke”™s commitment to improving the lives of patients referred from hospitals in Westchester County and New York City, as well as from Greenwich, Norwalk, Stamford and beyond.
At the far end of the display, a prosthetic leg from the early 20th century stands upright in a glass case.
“It”™s basically a wooden peg with leather straps,” said Richard Sgaglio, Burke”™s director of marketing and external relations. “It”™s heavy ”” it weighs around 50 pounds.”
Next to that prosthetic leg, a 3-D printer buzzed, strategically depositing plastic onto what will become a prosthetic arm for a child in South Sudan.
“Our commitment to reducing physical disability and ensuring that each patient has an opportunity to be restored and to restore himself to a maximal functional level will remain a hallmark,” Walsh said.
“I think where this hospital”™s roots are deep and enduring is in providing hospital-based care for those folks that need it, regardless of their diagnosis.”
