Preparing for the real world. Program helps rehabilitation patients perform everyday tasks

St. Francis Health Care Centre in Green Springs, OH, decided in 1991 to enlist local merchants in a program in rehabilitative medicine. The program, named for Green Springs's main street, is "Broadway: A Route Home." Broadway is a program for persons who, because of severe illness or injury, require extended rehabilitation. Along with care for continuing physical or cognitive problems, such patients often need help in performing tasks--buying groceries, cashing a check, renting a video--that most people take for granted. Under the Broadway program patients can practice these tasks safely in shops, restaurants, and theaters in Green Springs and other nearby communities. Later, escorted by therapists, some patients journey to larger cities and, finally, to their own communities, to exercise everyday skills.