NewGait equipment, which is designed to help correct a person’s gait, is displayed at the Great Lakes Sports Medicine & Life Performance Institute at the open house Tuesday. Attendees of the open house had a chance to tour the facility, see demonstrations of equipment, meet staff and ask questions. (Journal photo by Cecilia Brown)

MARQUETTE — The Great Lakes Sports Medicine & Life Performance Institute in Marquette held an open house Tuesday, with many attendees touring the facility, meeting staff and learning more about the services offered.

The open house aimed to increase public understanding and awareness of the multidisciplinary institute, which opened earlier this year, officials said.

“This is an exciting day for us. This project took a tremendous amount of vision, energy, planning and it was a true collaboration,” said Victor Harrington, regional director of marketing and business development at UP Health System.

Attendees learned about the diverse array of services offered in the building, as the institute brought UP Health System Rehab Services, Northern Michigan University, Advanced Center for Orthopedics and Plastic Surgery, UP Rehab Services and Perform4Life together under one roof to serve as a “regional destination center for all orthopedic sports medicine therapy services and surgical service needs,” Harrington said.

Tour groups had a chance to explore both floors of the 25,000-square-foot building Tuesday, seeing the unique combination of orthopedic and sports medicine services housed in the institute, including those for spine and orthopedic rehabilitation, physical therapy, aquatic therapy, hand therapy and athletic training, along with a sports science research center and a 24-hour medical fitness and wellness gym.

“There’s not another facility like it in the Upper Peninsula,” said Dale Moilanen, chief operating officer at Advanced Center for Orthopedics and Plastic Surgery.

The institute has been a long time in the making, with the many entities working collaboratively to make the vision a reality.

“We’ve always had a vision to have a destination center, something that people can come to and be able to get all of their needs met as far as physicians, their physical therapy, their occupational therapy and the certified hand therapy program here,” said Terry Tripp, director of outpatient therapies at UP Rehab Services. “We also have an aquatic therapy pool where we can treat people with non-weight bearing conditions, chronic pain conditions (and) oncology rehab.”

There are numerous benefits to housing multiple disciplines and services under one roof, officials said.

One benefit is offering comprehensive services in a central location for the U.P., Harrington said.

“It’s important because our goal is to provide quality comprehensive health care services for our U.P. residents right here in the U.P., close to home,” Harrington said. “When you look at an injury or an ailment or you need some sort of surgical procedure, there’s no need to leave the U.P. for those services. All the way from evaluation, surgery if necessary, rehabilitation, and then the overall quality of life — so all those things are offered under this one roof in the center.”

The institute’s collaborative nature also helps to provide coordinated, multidisciplinary care to patients, officials said.

“They can coordinate the therapy better so the patient or athlete has a more rapid return to their activity that they love,” said Dr. Robert Blotter of the Advanced Center for Orthopedics and Plastic Surgery.

Overall, the institute aims to offer the “best care possible” by bringing different professionals and disciplines together in one facility, Tripp said.

For more information, call 906-228-2595 or visit www.uphealthsystem .com, www.perform4lifemqt.com, www.uprehab.com, www.advancedorthoandplastics.com or www.nmu. edu.

The hours of the facility, which is located at 841 W. Washington St., are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. The Perform4Life medical fitness and wellness gym is open to members 24/7 through key access but is staffed 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248.