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.
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