For some, home is a familiar house, four walls containing years of memories. Home can also be more than a place—a feeling, a person, or an idea that sparks joy and empowers them to live their best lives—a place like Craig Hospital.
Perhaps you or a family member have experienced the mix of relief, anxiety, excitement, and hope that comes from entering the doors of a familiar place after months in hospitals.
It’s a feeling that’s hard to explain. Everything is the same, and yet everything is different. It’s a time to exhale…celebrate how far you’ve come…and look upon a hopeful and bright future.
Every year, in the United States alone, nearly 18,000 people sustain a spinal cord injury (SCI), and roughly 3 million sustain a brain injury (BI). These individuals need access to expert care to rebuild their lives.
A spinal cord or brain injury can be life-altering and traumatic, but it does not have to define or diminish. It marks a point in time for the person, their family, and their community.
It also signals the start of a journey of resilience and determination that transforms hope into homecomings.
Craig’s personalized, family-focused rehabilitation approach leads to life-affirming, love-filled homecomings for people like Lori.
Lori learned the true meaning of Home
A nagging backache led to a disturbing discovery—a tumor was lodged in Lori’s spine and she required delicate emergency surgery. She woke from surgery unable to walk. “That’s when I realized how much damage had been done,” she says.
Then heartbreak struck again. While she watched out the window from her postsurgical hospital bed, an unprecedented wildfire swept through her neighborhood and destroyed her home. She wailed in despair. What was she going to do? Where would she and her husband live?
That’s when Craig became part of Lori’s story.
During a discussion with the social worker on her care team at the beginning of her rehabilitation stay at Craig, Lori broke down. “It dawned on me, everything I own is right here in this hospital room—I have no clothes, no jewelry, and just … nothing.”
With the financial assistance of donors like you, the social worker was able to take Lori shopping for necessities.
“I was shocked that they did that,” Lori says. “I felt really taken care of.”
It was the start of Lori’s new hopepowered story.
During her time at Craig, Lori learned everything from wheelchair skills to travel tips to adaptations she could make in her workplace. She learned how to safely care for her grandbaby from her new seated position. Lori saw a bright future before her once again. She knew that while her physical surroundings would be different when she left Craig— her passions and her people would still be the center of her life.
When Lori was discharged to her temporary apartment, she was prepared to face her future. It may not have been the homecoming she dreamed of, but she was ready.
“I think that you make a home wherever you are,” she says. “It’s a symbol of hope and something that has meaning in our new life as we move forward.”
“Here at Craig, we guide families from fear to courage. From despair to hope. From ‘patient’ to ‘person’ and from hospital to homecomings.”
- Jandel Allen-Davis, MD, Craig President and CEO
1907 Frank Craig starts the “Tent Colony of Brotherly Love” on the plains west of Denver for indigent men with tuberculosis.
1957 Dr. John Young arrives at Craig as medical director and intensifies Craig’s exclusive focus on spinal cord injury and brain injury rehabilitation. Dr. Young is regarded as the visionary founder of the modern Craig.
1955 As tuberculosis declines with antibiotic treatments, Craig shifts its emphasis to multiple diagnoses, such as multiple sclerosis, polio, muscular dystrophy, and spinal cord injury.
1977 The Traumatic Brain Injury team is created distinct from the Spinal Cord Injury teams under the direction of Dr. Harry Hahn.
1970 Craig moves from Lakewood to donated land in Englewood and builds an 80-bed rehabilitation hospital focusing on spinal cord and brain injury.
2002 Craig constructs a 47-unit on-site outpatient and family housing facility.
1989 U.S. News & World Report begins ranking hospitals and places Craig among its top rehabilitation hospitals in the United States.
Frank Craig didn’t let his chronic health issues stop him from making a difference.
Determined to face his challenges with courage, he moved from Ohio to create a new life for himself in the dry Colorado air.
On June 10, 1907, Frank erected a single canvas tent on a small piece of rural property located west of Denver. He began to assist a few indigent men who, like himself, were suffering from tuberculosis. Soon more tents were erected next to his own.
In his efforts to create a home for himself and others, Frank had unknowingly created an institution that would bring hope to hundreds of thousands.
It’s an institution that thrives nearly 120 years later.
From the early days when Frank Craig sought cash donations and contributions of food, clothing, and furniture to give his patients the best life possible, Craig Hospital has relied on the generosity of people who embrace the vision and are willing to give boldly.
People like you.
2016 Craig cuts the ribbon on a multi-million expansion project, supported by generous donors to the Redefining ROI Campaign.
2014 Craig Hospital receives the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators Top Hospital Quality Award in the Rehabilitation category.
2021 Craig is awarded its 10th Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems grant, one of only two centers in the U.S. that have been continuously funded as a Model Systems since 1974.
2020 Craig is granted its fourth Magnet Designation for nursing quality, becoming the first freestanding rehab hospital to receive this prestigious designation four consecutive times.
2023 The Craig Foundation launches Hope and Homecomings: The Campaign for Craig Hospital to expand access and accelerate innovation.
2022 Craig is designated as a Traumatic Brain Injury Model System for its 24th year.
Since 1907, Craig has been at the forefront of innovation and impact for individuals facing life-altering health conditions. From our humble beginnings as a tuberculosis colony to our current specialization in spinal cord and brain injuries, we have given hope to people from around the world.
This hope is fueled by leading-edge research and resources, unparalleled expertise, breakthrough moments, unflinching dedication, and never-give-up resilience.
Access to Craig—and our expertise—makes a difference.
In comparison to their peers who rehabilitate at other institutions around the country, Craig graduates living with a spinal cord injury:
• Achieve greater independence and health as measured by mobility assessment tools
• Have higher participation in daily activities
• Gain more functional independence and need less hands-on care
• Achieve higher levels of life satisfaction through social integration and community reintegration
• Have a lower risk of rehospitalization
Craig graduates living with a brain injury:
• Achieve higher life quality on metrics including satisfaction with life
• Return to work, school, and community participation at higher rates
• Achieve higher levels of involvement at home, school, work, and social engagements
• Have a lower risk of rehospitalization
Time is everything.
We know how critical it is for patients to start care with Craig as quickly as possible for optimal outcomes.
People who are hoping for an opportunity to rehabilitate at Craig experience long wait times for both inpatient and outpatient programs, leaving some of our patients regressing while waiting for their rehabilitation journey to start.
The waiting lists for our award-winning, inpatient and outpatient programs can be several months long.
Every day matters.
Friends of Craig, people like you, have been integral members of the Craig experience since the beginning.
But now it’s time to do even more for patients, their families, and those who are waiting for Craig’s expertise.
There is not a moment to waste.
Our bold vision will take Craig’s time-tested rehabilitation model and expand access and accelerate innovation. With your compassionate and generous support, we will serve more people, serve them sooner, and impact the entire spinal cord and brain injury community as we bridge the gap between research and real-world therapies.
Our goals are big, bold, and full of hope:
breakthroughs. moments of celebration. homecomings.
Aim One: Expanding Access
To ease the often-difficult transition between the acute care hospital and rehab, we intend to expand our care for patients by creating Craig’s first NeuroMedical Program
Through this special program, we will add 12 beds in order to get patients to Craig sooner and avoid medical complications, such as skin wounds, urinary complications, and more. This program will help patients begin light rehab and education earlier in the journey, while also expanding access to the Craig care model among the community of patients who need it most. Patients will be better prepared for their inpatient rehabilitation and better positioned for successful homecomings
In addition, we will add 14 inpatient beds, allowing us to serve approximately 60 additional patients annually – roughly 13% more than we can serve today. Each of these patients will benefit from the exceptional Craig model, enabling them to achieve a high life quality, independence, and outstanding health outcomes.
Over the continuum of their lives, our patients will require healthcare services that are highly specialized and can be difficult to access in communities. As more individuals have come to Craig over time, and as word of mouth has spread regarding our highly effective outpatient care, the demand for these services has increased— whether those patients completed their inpatient neurorehabilitation at Craig or not. We plan to expand our outpatient services to meet this growing demand by increasing our physical capacity on campus, as well as leveraging innovative and emerging technologies.
“As
we open this exciting new chapter of Craig’s history, we are committed to maintaining and strengthening these programs that make all the difference for patients and families.”
-Serena Bruzgo, Craig Foundation President
Expanded and earlier access will also increase our ability to serve more people with the vital programs that are a cornerstone of our whole-person approach to rehabilitation and preparation for life in the community.
Our Culture of Care programs are key to patient success yet receive little to no funding from insurance. Patient Assistance helps mitigate the staggering cost of catastrophic injuries by providing home modifications, durable medical equipment, caregiver support, and much more.
Ivar Uses Research to Enhance Recovery
In August 2018, Ivar Chan traveled from his home in Los Angeles to Whistler, north of Vancouver, British Columbia, to celebrate his grandmother’s 90th birthday.
While in Whistler, Ivar went biking with his brother and accidentally fell over the handlebars of his mountain bike. He hit a tree stump, sustaining a C4 incomplete spinal cord injury, resulting in paralysis from the chest down.
After spending three weeks in a Level One trauma hospital in Canada, Ivar flew to Denver via air ambulance to spend 2 ½ months at Craig Hospital.
With a positive spirit, Ivar embraced his life-changing event as the “greatest challenge of his life,” focusing his energy on his recovery and achieving independence.
In fact, he compares his experience at Craig to being a racecar driver. “My life at
Craig was go, go, go,” he recalls. “I remember feeling like I had a large, dedicated pit crew to support me, and I was the star of the show. Never feeling alone in this journey was so important in helping me get through the shock of those first few months.”
A promising research opportunity
When presented with the opportunity to participate in research at Craig, Ivar jumped at the chance. “While there’s so much research geared toward studying cancer and other well-known health conditions, there’s not a lot focused on spinal cord injuries,” he says. “So, I felt like it was important to be part of this research—to improve my own recovery and also help others with a spinal cord injury.”
Ivar took part in research evaluating the use of transcutaneous electrical stimulation for individuals with SCI. The study seeks to evaluate the overall safety and efficacy of noninvasive transcutaneous spinal cord electrical stimulation using electrodes placed on the surface of the skin directly over the spinal cord.
“The study, Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation in Combination with Massed Practice Training in Spinal Cord Injury, explores the use of a new device that delivers a
much higher frequency of electrical stimulation than currently available commercial devices to increase excitability in the spinal cord,” explains Candy Tefertiller, PT, DPT, Ph.D., NCS, the study’s principal investigator and the first person to hold the endowed chair of research.
She adds, “The goal of these stimulators is to essentially ‘turn up the volume’ in the spinal cord so that even weak signals crossing the injury site may become strong enough to facilitate movement below the injury level. By putting these electrodes over the spinal cord, the frequency pushes the stimulation into the cord and essentially magnifies any input that was coming from the brain.”
The results of the study have been quite promising. “I have not only experienced an increase in grip strength and definite improvements in my gait, but this research has allowed me to become more independent,” Ivar says. “And this gives me a lot of hope for the future, which is a very big part of my mental journey.”
Aim Two: Accelerating Innovation
Scientists have achieved enormous breakthroughs in basic research about spinal cord and brain injuries. More than ever before, they understand how these injuries work.
But when it comes to improving the lives of real patients, basic science is just the first step. Scientific findings must be investigated, tested, and “translated” into therapies, products, and solutions that result in improved health and longterm well-being. Unfortunately, many discoveries get stuck in the therapeutic development pipeline, due to a lack of funding, incentives, and technical expertise.
Since Craig became a research hospital 50 years ago, we have made discoveries that have transformed clinical approaches to rehabilitation. We will increase our impact as we bridge the gap between basic science and real-life applications.
With your help, we will put scientific knowledge to work, now—benefiting individuals at Craig and beyond.
We will attract and retain bright researchers to propel studies in partnership with bedside clinicians.
We will center the work of our researchers—both figuratively and literally—by building a new Human Movement Laboratory in the heart of the campus.
This hands-on research facility, which will be approximately 8,000-9,000 square feet in a renovated and expanded space on campus, will enable us to objectively answer the clinical questions that are most important to patients and families affected by neurologic injuries.
The “living laboratory” will be designed to quantify improvements in strength, balance, gait, and more, as patients test out a wide range of novel therapeutic equipment and techniques.
Crucially, once the lab is scaled up—with philanthropic support from friends like you—the continual dialog between researchers and clinicians will allow us to apply our research findings quickly, giving hope and improving patient care.
Clinicians will be able to test researchers’ hypotheses as they work with patients and provide valuable real-time feedback about the treatments developed in the Laboratory. Specialized equipment might include:
Force plates to analyze ground reaction forces during walking, jumping, or other movements.
A 3D motion capture system to measure and analyze precise movements of the body.
Electromyography to measure muscle response or electrical activity in response to a nerve’s stimulation of the muscle.
Brain motor control devices to measure what areas of the brain become active during movement.
More than a hospital
To fully embrace our vision, we need new spaces for our clinicians, staff, patients, and families.
We will both revitalize existing spaces and expand into new areas of our property in Englewood.
A horizontal and vertical expansion of the East Building will allow for the construction of the Human Movement Lab, the addition of the NeuroMedical Program, and 12 new inpatient beds.
The East Building expansion will include a new bridge to provide connectivity and continuity for our spinal cord and brain injury floors. The West Building renovation will expand outpatient services and therapy gyms. Our existing garden will move into a larger footprint at the corner of Girard and Clarkson. The garden will provide green space for community engagement, respite, gathering, and skill building.
In addition, the hospital is investing in a new energy center that will lower our carbon footprint.
Be a part of this bold moment in time.
Craig Hospital is already a world-class rehabilitation facility for individuals who have sustained a spinal cord or brain injury, bringing hope during the darkest of days. And now, together, we can do much more.
With your partnership, we will grow Craig’s impact and accessibility, galvanizing Craig’s position as the leader in the field of neurorehabilitation and helping more people find hope for a bright future.
Bold visions call for bold supporters.
Your generosity will transform hope, breakthroughs, and possibilities into life-changing, care-advancing outcomes.
This will make all the difference for every patient and family that places their trust in us, every physician, nurse, and caregiver who is inspired by us, every healthcare system that looks to us for answers, and every researcher working tirelessly for breakthroughs.
Before we can begin the construction involved in these strategic aims, we must raise the necessary capital and start-up costs by spring 2025. Through the Hope and Homecomings Campaign for Craig Hospital, you have the powerful opportunity to make an indelible, sustainable impact on thousands of people living with spinal cord and brain injuries by powering the hope that drives our mission.
Join us. Give boldly to translate hope into homecomings.
