Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital |
|
|---|---|
Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital is on a hillside, with a good view over Oslofjorden.
|
|
| Geography | |
| Location | Nesodden, Norway |
| Coordinates | 59°50′04″N 10°38′25″E / 59.83444°N 10.64028°E |
Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital is a special hospital located in Nesodden, Norway. It is part of a larger health group called Helse Sør-Øst. Sunnaas is Norway's largest hospital that focuses on helping people get better after serious injuries or illnesses. This type of care is called physical medicine and rehabilitation.
The hospital helps patients with many different health challenges. This includes people recovering from brain injuries, serious accidents, burns, or certain nerve conditions. They also help people who have had cancer. The hospital's programs help patients recover, learn to live with new challenges, and return to their daily lives. Sunnaas also has smaller clinics in Oslo and Nesodden.
Contents
How Sunnaas Hospital Helps People
Sunnaas Hospital is a leading center for rehabilitation. This means they help people regain skills and independence after an illness or injury. They offer different types of programs:
- Primary rehabilitation: This is the first step where patients start their recovery journey.
- Controlled return: This helps patients slowly get back to their normal activities.
- Patient programs: These are special plans made for each person's needs.
The hospital also does important research. They have a special department for research. Doctors, nurses, and medical students all work together to learn more about how to help patients.
The History of Sunnaas Hospital
Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital was started in 1954 by a couple named Rolf and Birgit Sunnaas. They were not doctors, but they had a big vision to help people.
Helping During the Polio Epidemic
From the very beginning, Sunnaas worked closely with Ullevål Hospital in Oslo. Many patients came from there. In the early 1950s, there was a serious outbreak of polio. This disease made many young people very sick and they needed long-term care to recover. Sunnaas Hospital was asked to help as many of these patients as they could.
They hired an experienced nerve doctor named Nils Sponheim. He became the first head doctor at Sunnaas. Dr. Sponheim helped convince health officials in Oslo that Sunnaas should become a proper hospital. It would focus on medical rehabilitation and work with Oslo City Hospital. Over the next 20 years, Dr. Sponheim and his team of doctors and physical therapists made Sunnaas the best rehabilitation center in Norway.
Growth and Becoming a University Hospital
Sunnaas Hospital kept growing. By 1975, it had 247 beds for patients. In 1979, the Sunnaas couple gave the hospital to the city of Oslo as a gift. However, the city wanted the government to help pay for the hospital. This also meant the hospital would take on more complex cases.
In 1995, Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital became a university hospital. This means it also teaches new doctors and does a lot of medical research. After some big changes in Norway's health system in 2002, Sunnaas became its own independent health trust within Helse Øst.
If you want to learn more about the hospital's history, there's a book called "Mitt Soria Moria Historien om Sunnaas sykehus" by Egil Houg. It was written for the hospital's 50th birthday in 2004.
