Rehabilitationships

Listen to a preview of The Hartford Nationals as leaders from Move United, the West Michigan Sports Commission and Mary Free Bed Wheelchair & Adaptive Sports share what makes this competition so meaningful and exciting. Learn about the athletes, the impact across our community and how you can be part of the experience in Grand Rapids July 10-16.     #HartfordNationals #MoveUnited #MaryFreeBed...

The KeyBank Gran Fondo is almost here, and the energy is building in downtown Grand Rapids. For this episode of Rehabilitationships we featured a livestream conversation about our upcoming event.   As riders prepare for the big day, we chatted with participants who are fundraising for Mary Free Bed to hear what keeps them coming back year after year.   They share why this ride matters to them, wha...

Rehabilitationships is back with a new episode! We are featuring a conversation from a recent livestream previewing the upcoming KeyBank Gran Fondo. It’s a day that brings people together to move, connect and support life‑changing rehabilitation.   In this conversation with event organizers and returning riders we talk about what makes the Gran Fondo special, what it’s like to ride, and how fundra...

Rehabilitationships is back looking at the intersection of rehabilitation and relationships. This next episode is another in a regular "Meet the Team" series and it's with Mary Free Bed at Home.   Mary Free Bed at Home was just ranked among America’s Best Home Health Agencies by Newsweek for 2026. They ranked 5th in the state of Michigan, and were the only agency serving in West Michigan.   For th...

Ten years ago, Marcus Fairfield survived a car crash that left him with a spinal cord injury and uncertain future. In this heartfelt conversation, Marcus reunites with his Mary Free Bed rehabilitation team, Kristen, Jamie, and Jess, to reflect on his incredible journey and express gratitude for the people who helped him during his recovery. It's a powerful reminder of what we can overcome when we...

Five years after a life-changing illness and complex surgery, Brad Mathis shares his incredible journey of recovery at Mary Free Bed. From being dependent on a ventilator to regaining his independence, Brad reflects on the care, hope, and determination that helped him rebuild his life. Join us as he reunites with his rehabilitation team who supported him every step of the way.  #RehabilitationJour...

Welcome back to Rehabilitationships a podcast from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. This is the podcast we talk about the intersection of rehabilitation and relationships.  In another segment of "Where Are They Now?" we catch up with Mary Free Bed graduate and handcycle team member, Kate Brim. She won a gold and bronze medal at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris in handcycling. Kate's been traveling the w...

Rehabilitationships is back with an inspiring conversation with Isaac Shapiro, co-founder of Cleanlogic, whose body care company is empowering the lives of individuals with disabilities. He’s joined by Tim Tuthill and Osman Koroma from the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) as they discuss their partnership during Blindness Awareness Month.  Learn how Cleanlogic, inspired by Is...

Respiratory Care Week is a great chance to highlight the important work of respiratory therapists and teams at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation and across the nation. In a special edition of Rehabilitationships, a podcast from Mary Free Bed, we are back with another episode of our “Meet the Team” series. Host Chris Mills is joined by Maria Gordon, Digital Marketing Coordinator at Mary Free Bed, and th...

For our next episode of Rehabilitationships, we share a conversation for October's Blindness Awareness Month with the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Discover the unique challenges and triumphs of individuals living with low vision, and learn about the essential services ABVI provides to empower their community. Hear from Tim Tuthill, Executive Director for ABVI, Teresa Weakley, M...

In this episode of Rehabilitationships, we share the inspiring story of LaSonya Alhasan, a COVID-19 survivor who found hope and healing at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. After a battle with the virus that left her in a coma for weeks and paralyzed her vocal cords, LaSonya embarked on a remarkable journey of recovery, that brought her to Mary Free Bed at two separate times. Listeners will hear first...

We're back with another episode of Rehabilitationships, a podcast from Mary Free Bed. For this episode, we are sharing some conversations from the Rhoades McKee Reeds Lake Triathlon. Amputees from Mary Free Bed were joining their prosthetists and therapists to race together in a mixed relay. Five different teams split up the swim, bike and run portions of the race between the patients and clinicia...

We’re shining a spotlight on the amazing team of speech-language pathologists at Mary Free Bed. Welcome back to Rehabilitationships, a podcast from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. This is the podcast where we talk about the intersection of rehabilitation and relationships.  Whether it’s learning to navigate speech difficulties like aphasia, managing communication challenges, building cognition skill...

Have you ever wondered how speech-language pathologists help patients improve their communication? Welcome back to Rehabilitationships, a podcast from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. This is the podcast where we talk about the intersection of rehabilitation and relationships.  For this next episode, we are doing another in our meet the team series. We are featuring a recent conversation I had for Na...

We’re back with another episode of Rehabilitationships, a podcast from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. Every episode we are highlighting the intersection of rehabilitation and relationships.    In this episode, we meet Jill and Sam Smalldon, a mother and son whose lives were forever changed by a devastating car accident. Sam suffered a traumatic brain injury and spent 100 days at Mary Free Bed Rehab...

In our next episode of Rehabilitationships, a podcast from Mary Free Bed, we keep up with the “Meet the Team” series. For this podcast, we talked with clinicians from the Great Lakes Bay Region who work at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation at Covenant HealthCare.  Our discussions include a nurse, a therapist, and a prosthetist, all who share their motivation for working in rehabilitation and the specia...

We’re back with another episode of Rehabilitationships, a podcast from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation . We are usually digging into the intersection of rehabilitation and relationships by pairing up a patient with their clinician for a great conversation. For the next couple episodes, we are going to break from that format to get to know some of the team at Mary Free Bed. We will be talking with hea...

Here’s the conclusion to our story with Spencer Cobb. Spencer was in his senior year of high school when a diving accident changed his life. He spent four months at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital going through inpatient rehabilitation. For the podcast we sat down with him, his mom Allison, and his occupational therapist Sydney Krol, on the day before Spencer returned home from the hospital....

We are back with a new season of Rehabilitationships , a podcast from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. Every episode we are highlighting the intersection of rehabilitation and relationships.   To start off our second season, we are meeting an all-state high school athlete from Spring Lake, Michigan.  Spencer Cobb was just starting his senior year and really coming into his own on the swim team. His l...

We are excited to start a new season of Rehabilitationships, a podcast from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. This is the show where we pair real patients with their real clinicians to hear real stories of recovery.  We are just finishing our first year of the podcast, so we wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate and look back at the past stories we’ve shared. Then, we wanted to look forward to a...

We are back and wrapping up the 2nd part of our newest Rehabilitationships story, a real story of recovery, from real patients and real clinicians.  This is the conclusion to the story featuring Peggy Maniates, executive director of the USS Silverside Submarine Museum. In the first episode, we heard from Peggy about her work at the museum and how complications following a surgery led to nerve dama...

For our next episodes of Rehabilitationships, we took a dive and recorded on location. Our guest for this episode is a history expert and what a better way to relive history than seeing it firsthand. Our guest for this episode of podcast is Peggy Maniates. She’s the former executive director of the USS Silversides Submarine Museum, a submarine from World War II. Peggy shares her story of when she...

Rehabilitationships is back with the conclusion of a two-part episode. How does a recovery from a brain injury lead to a new leader at a hospital? We are talking with the CEO of Mary Free Bed, Kent Riddle, and his wife Susan, as they share about their car crash from 20 years ago, and how that experience led him to his leadership role at the hospital. Back again for these episodes is our special gu...

How did a simple trip to the laundromat change a family and later a hospital system forever? We find out in the newest episode of Rehabilitationships.  In this two-part episode, we talk to Mary Free Bed President and CEO Kent Riddle and his wife Susan Riddle. With such a special episode, we brought in a guest host, long-time radio host turned podcast consultant, Phil Tower.  For this episode, we d...

We are back with another special episode of Rehabilitationships. In this episode, we recorded on location at “Bikes for the Rest of Us.” This annual event hosted at Mary Free Bed helps over 50 children and adults with varying abilities get introduced and personally fitted for adaptive bicycling. Over the episode we talk to organizers, participants, volunteers and vendors to find out how the event...