Great-grandson of FDR visits Roosevelt Warm Springs

The staff at Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation and Specialty Hospitals had a special guest in April. Dr. Matt Roosevelt, great-grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, visited the historic campus, which was founded by FDR as a polio treatment center in 1927. It was the first time he had visited since he was 12.

Warm Springs CEO David Mork has been corresponding with Roosevelt for about a year. The physician was finally able to schedule the trip from San Diego to see the legacy of FDR through more mature eyes.

“As a hospitalist with Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Roosevelt was very interested in the medical education opportunities we offer at Warm Springs through our affiliation with Augusta University,” Mork said.

More than 85 students from the College of Nursing, the Medical College of Georgia and the College of Allied Health Sciences participate in training each year in Warm Springs. There are many unique lessons for these professionals-in-training to learn through hands-on care in long-term acute care and rehabilitation.

Dr. Roosevelt is the newest member and the only physician on the Board of Trustees for the Roosevelt Warm Springs Foundation, a foundation originally formed to support the mission of the Roosevelt Warm Springs campus.

“We certainly want to strengthen this longstanding connection with the Roosevelts,” Mork said, explaining that Dr. Roosevelt made the rounds in both the LTACH and rehab hospitals during his visit.

He also met with current and former patients, and reminisced about his childhood visit.

“We went to the outdoor pools, and he said he remembered sitting in the shade on nearby bench with his brother,” Mork said. “It was a good visit.”