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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2000)
Treatment continued from page 1A trie banana peel” that forces pa tients to use their impaired mus cles. “Right now there are small thrusts,” Woollacott said. “But it will get much faster as they im prove.” The EMS department’s stroke treatment — called “forced use therapy” — is different from tradi tional stroke rehabilitation tech niques that only require short physical therapy sessions, often for just one or two hours per day, Woollacott said. Adomaitis’ therapy sessions, when they begin Monday in a larger, more equipped room in Esslinger Lounge, will last six hours a day for two weeks. “We’re watching their behavior to see if they respond faster,” Ado maitis said. Recent studies have shown that a new direction in stroke therapy may be more effective. Longer du rations of treatment, such as the forced use therapy approach, can cause the stroke-afflicted brain to reorganize itself for improved muscle performance. “New parts of the brain literal ly start lighting up,” Woollacott said. “And the beauty of that is that people continue to do this on ( ( We’re watching their behavior to see if they respond faster. Laura Adomaitis physical therapist their own.” Specifically, Adomaitis and Woollacott are attempting to re shape the brain so it can commu nicate with afflicted leg muscles, thus giving patients better bal ance. “When they go out to the com munity, we want them to be safer and less likely to get hurt,” Ado maitis said. The fear of falling is one of the most traumatic fears for those who have suffered from a stroke, Wool lacott said. While walking through a hospi tal lobby one time, Christensen said, he fell because he was not aware that the floor had just been waxed. “I still lose my balance, but this will help me a lot,” he said. Christensen said he is quickly fatigued by the therapy and knows that the next two weeks will be ex hausting. He is," however, opti mistic about the potential of the new treatment. “These therapists know how to Marge Worley tests out a new treatment for stroke patients Wednesday morning at Gerlinger Hall. She wears a harness during a balance test to avoid falling. run you down,” Christensen said laughing. Prior to moving to Eugene a year ago, Christensen and his wife, Evie, worked with stroke support groups in California. Evie Chris tensen said it is difficult for her to just let her husband work through his problems, like dressing him self, when she wants to help him. When they should be giving their partners more responsibilities, spouses of stroke survivors often do too much, she said. “We’ve seen caregivers cripple their spouses because they don’t want to see them struggle,” Evie Christensen said. “It’s the hardest thing to watch him struggle. It just kills me.” Evie Christensen said she is ex tremely impressed with the Uni versity’s treatment program and is glad her husband is participating. “I’m very excited about Al being involved,” Evie Christensen said. Although many were interested in the treatment, including several stroke sufferers who lived outside of the state, EMS only selected two patients to participate in the pilot program. Adomaitis said four to six more patients will be treated this fall. “It’s been really wonderful to see how excited people are,” Woollacott said. “Many people want to participate in the experi ment in the future if this works.” Adomaitis and Woollacott both said they are excited about what their new treatment can accom plish. “My expectations are that peo ple will be significantly better at getting around, not using a cane for example, and be able to use their impaired leg,” Woollacott said. Next January, after several ses sions of therapy, Adomaitis said she hopes to begin her disserta tion on the results of the treatment and would like to get her work published so there is more aware ness about it. Tom Weiskopf, vice president of communications for the Na tional Stroke Association, said he is glad new studies are being con ducted and wants more informa tion about the new methods to be known. “We’re in support of any re search and treatment that can re duce incidents and/or the impact of strokes,” Weiskopf said. The cost of physical therapy is high, and Woollacott said she is somewhat concerned about get ting insurance companies, who only support some physical thera py, to approve the new treat ments. “Once you’re 65 and on Medicare, you don’t get the op portunity to have therapy,” Evie Christensen said. “We’re trying to make a plea that people need more therapy.” Senate continued from page 1A even to frame a logical debate,” Earl said. That is why he has ap pointed the subcommittee — “to bring clarity to the issues.” Earl said the subcommittee will “listen to the many voices in this complex public debate, including students, faculty, administration, trustees, alumni, licensees, donors and others.” Former Senate President Peter Gilkey, who completed his eighth year of senate service Wednesday, { ( These issues are so en tangled that it has been difficult even to frame a logical debate. James Earl new University Senate president said he was pleased at the role the senate played in University deci sion making this year. “Shared governance is alive and well,” Gilkey said in his final speech as senate president. He lauded accomplishments of the 1999-2000 Senate, including the Senate Budget Committee’s Faculty White Paper, a compre hensive plan to bring faculty salaries up to par with national averages and the Statement of Community Values, a code ap proved by the senate as an out growth of the work the summer diversity interns did. ODE Classifieds... Worth Looking Into! iay 4uuU- / rt Locally owned lube, oil, filter DOWNTOWN 1320 Willamette 485-2356 2975 West 11th 344-0007 3/4 or 1-ton & Extra Cab Trucks Additional OPEN Sundays • Chassis Lube • New Oil Filter • Up to 5 Qts. 10W-30 Kendall Oil • Clean Front Window • Vaccuum Front Floor Boards Kendall Appointment necessary James Boren, 9:00 a.m., MUWH ENG 425/CRN 41626 English in 2000 SUMMER SESSION • JUNE 19-AUGUST 11 Register by telephone now. Pick up a free summer catalog in Oregon Hall or at the UO bookstore. 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