Gorbel Medical, a division of Gorbel Inc, recently announced the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of its newly constructed Gaitway Center, which took place July 23 at the company’s Victor, New York-based corporate headquarters.

The Gaitway Center, according to a company news release, is a conference and education space in Gorbel’s Technology Center building that features a physical therapy facility complete with a SafeGait 360 Dynamic Body-Weight Support System and other rehabilitation equipment. Activities in the Gaitway Center will place a key focus on research, education, and product development.

Brian Reh, president and CEO, Gorbel Inc, explains in the release that the Gaitway Center is intended to serve as “a hub to bring together therapists and researchers to investigate new rehabilitation tools that can be developed into future Gorbel Medical products. Therapists from across the country will use the Gaitway Center to collaborate on studies designed to measure the impact of Gorbel Medical’s products, including the SafeGait System, on clinical outcomes, care quality, and delivery.”

The release reports that the Gaitway Center will also be used to deliver live and web-based educational programs designed to share the knowledge gained by researchers with therapists who can put it to practical use.

Kathy Owens, PT, chief of Physical Therapy at the University of Rochester Medical Center, emphasizes the organization’s excitement that the “new local Gorbel Gaitway Center will continue to work closely with practitioners to produce and enhance products that will allow us to further facilitate the functional recovery of our patients.”

She adds that the use of the recently installed SafeGait Body-Weight Support System has “already positively impacted the functional recovery of many patients participating in therapy on the Rehabilitation Unit of UR Medicine’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.”

Present at the event were honored guests that included governmental dignitaries, the release says, such as Representative for US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Niambé Tomlinson; New York State Senator Rich Funke; Representative for Assemblyman Brian Kolb, Emily Palumbos; and Victor Town Supervisor and Chairman of Ontario County Board of Supervisors, Jack Marren.

The release notes that special guests who also attended included physical rehabilitation therapists and researchers from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Nazareth College, Monroe Community Hospital, and the University of Rochester Medical Center.

[Source: Gorbel Medical]