Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation Celebrates 75 Years of Restoring Quality to Life

Future initiatives underway to enhance patient experience and rehabilitation outcomes

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 24, 2025 — Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation has delivered patients expert, compassionate care for more than 75 years. What opened in 1950 as the Charlotte Spastics Hospital, a specialized children’s hospital for neurological disorders and physical disabilities, has grown into a nationally top-ranked, global leader in rehabilitation medicine.

Today, Carolinas Rehabilitation spans five inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and units across Greater Charlotte, delivering exceptional care to both adult and pediatric patients from across the nation and around the world. The original site, along Blythe Boulevard in Charlotte, North Carolina, was rebuilt as the state-of-the-art, David L. Conlan Center at Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation, in 2023.

“This 75th Anniversary milestone celebrates our teammates, current and former patients, their families and the broader community who have shaped our journey and continue to inspire our mission,” said Todd Bennett, vice president of Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation. “The word rehabilitation means 'to restore to a former capacity,' but here at Carolinas Rehabilitation, it means so much more. It means restoring hope, dignity, independence, and joy. It’s the very heart of our mission.”

Carolinas Rehabilitation proudly houses the Southeast’s largest physical medicine and rehabilitation physician faculty, and the region’s largest team of specialized therapists and rehabilitation nurses. The dedicated care team empowers individuals facing the most complex and life-altering conditions and injuries resulting from spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, strokes, cancer, amputations, and others, through highly specialized rehabilitation programs, tailored to the patients’ needs.

With its past firmly established, Carolinas Rehabilitation is looking toward an exciting future, with several new initiatives planned and underway that will not only enhance patients’ experience during their recovery but will lead to even better health outcomes. 

• Healing therapy garden: The David L. Conlan Pathway to Independence heralds the next phase of innovation. Expected to open in 2027, the $4 million immersive therapy garden will offer real-world therapy experiences through functional rehabilitation programs, including outdoor therapy equipment and ground textures that will help patients practice mobility, stability and balance across different real-world conditions, sensory and communication therapy areas, and much more.
• Innovative spaces for healing: Carolinas Rehabilitation is actively recruiting for a vice-chair of research within the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, supported by an endowment from the Bissel Pathways Initiative, with hopes to expand the David L. Conlan Center into a research, education and innovation space.
• Care for all: An expansion of the Lifespan Therapies and Technology programs, which integrate occupational, physical and speech therapies with cutting-edge rehabilitation technologies, will serve patients across all stages of life. 
• Adaptive arts gallery: The quarterly rotating art exhibit features pieces from local artists with disabilities. The gallery is curated in partnership with Arts Access NC, a nonprofit organization that promotes artists with disabilities. The gallery highlights the use of adaptive arts and recreation as part of Carolinas Rehabilitation’s SORCE (Somatosensory Recovery Center of Excellence) program.

“These initiatives represent our unwavering commitment to innovation, inclusion and excellence in rehabilitation care,” said Robert Larrison Jr., president of Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation and Enterprise Group vice president, Atrium Health Rehabilitation Network. “Together, we are building a future where every patient has the opportunity to thrive.”

Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation is currently ranked at No. 12 on the “Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation” list by U.S. News & World Report. This year marks the fifth consecutive appearance among the top spots for Carolinas Rehabilitation, and this designation puts Carolinas Rehabilitation among the top 1% of rehabilitation hospitals in the nation, as well as being the highest-ranking rehabilitation hospital in the Southeast and the only ranked hospital in the Charlotte region.

About Atrium Health

Atrium Health is a nationally recognized leader in shaping health outcomes through innovative research, education and compassionate patient care. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Atrium Health is part of Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States. A recognized leader in experiential medical education and groundbreaking research, Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the health system’s academic core. Atrium Health is renowned for its top-ranked pediatric, cancer and heart care, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Atrium Health is also a leading-edge innovator in virtual care and mobile medicine, providing care close to home and in the home. It is ranked nationally among U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals in nine pediatric specialties and for rehabilitation. With a commitment to redefine care for every community it serves, Atrium Health provides nearly $3 billion in free and uncompensated care and other community benefits.

About Advocate Health

Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States, created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois; Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health services nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. Advocate Health is nationally recognized for its expertise in heart and vascular, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs more than 160,000 teammates across 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations and offers one of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to redefining care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.