LEWISTON – St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion is renovating its transitional rehabilitation center, spending $1.6 million to make the second-floor unit feel less institutional and more comfortable – like a posh hotel.

The center provides short-term care and therapy for ill or injured patients who don’t need to stay in the hospital but who aren’t yet able to care for themselves at home. Patients work to regain muscle strength or relearn basic skills.

The old center had a hospital feel to it, with 42 double-occupancy rooms. The new center will instead feature 42 single-occupancy rooms with private bathrooms and flat screen TVs. The unit will also offer wireless Internet access, a computer library, a state-of-the-art therapy gym and kitchen, as well as a bistro with a fireplace and complimentary snacks and beverages. All of it will be done in earth tones, lavender and pale yellow, what officials there call a “palette of healing colors.”

“We’re trying to move away from the more clinical feel you sometimes see,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Radel. “When people are comfortable and feel like they’re in a more home-like environment and have some of the amenities of home, it really helps with the healing process.”

D’Youville, which is owned by St. Mary’s Health Systems, will pay for the renovation in part with money raised through its capital campaign. That $4.5 million campaign, which will also help pay for a major emergency room expansion and a new medical building in Auburn, has so far raised $3.6 million.

Officials say the remaining cost of the rehab center’s renovation will not be passed on to patients.

“Hospital rates are definitely not going to change,” Radel said.

Renovations have already started and are expected to be completed by January 2010. Rehab patients have been moved to another section of d’Youville.