When serious illness hits you, being admitted to a hospital is often life-saving, but what do you do when you’re released?There are often major life adjustments to be made. This is especially true when there is serious head injury or in the case of a stroke.Although it helped more than 2,500 people last year, the Rehabilitation Day Hospital at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is almost a secret; not many in the community know it exists.Its team includes a speech and language pathologist, a medical social worker, a physiotherapist, a clinical psychologist and a dietician. Also on board are two physicians, physiotherapy specialist Elwood Fox and gerontologist David Harries. The unit also has a manager and three aides.Patients need a referral to take advantage of the Day Hospital. As its name suggests, its services are strictly out-patient. Once referred each person has one-on-one meetings with each member of the team and a six-week rehabilitation programme is decided on.The Day Hospital also operates specialist clinics including one focused on cardiac rehabilitation and another on mood and memory.This week the Rehabilitation Day Hospital is being highlighted in activities at KEMH. A display in the lobby is aimed at increasing awareness.Speech and language pathologist Damany Phifer said he helped hundreds of people at the Rehabilitation Day Hospital last year.Approximately 75 percent of his clients were stroke victims.He helps them regain their speech and works with them to improve and strengthen their memories before they visit the hospital’s Mood and Memory Clinic.“A lot of them come to me initially. There’s a lot we can do in trying to maintain cognitive function or even improve cognitive function if they have dementia,” he said.Mr Phifer gives his clients memory exercises if they are high-functioning. If they are at a middle stage he shows family and caregivers what they can do to help strengthen the memory of their loved one.“Dementia is progressive so we go from improvement to maintenance,” he said.Even in cases where clients can no longer care for themselves, talking with them remains critical, he pointed out.“I let family know that the patients are human beings and worth communicating with,” he said.