When a loved one suffers a spinal cord injury, it is important to understand what has happened. Some people don’t understand such an injury can be permanent.
A short, informative article is found at News Chief, entitled “Spinal cord injuries can have permanent effects” It reads: “Spinal cord injury occurs when there is a sudden severe blow to the spinal cord. It has been seen with other shock during sporting events, especially football. The most common causes, though, are auto accidents. Anyone who is riding in a car should always wear a seat belt. This will offer some protection against a spinal cord injury. READ MORE
The book is spiral bound to make it easy to handle from a wheelchair and goes beyond the informative with dozens of profiles of individuals with paralysis who are thriving members of the community. From soccer moms to well-known radio hosts, these survivors represent a true cross-section of people with spinal cord injury and disease.
The Los Angeles Times reports, “Spinal Network: The Total Resource for the Wheelchair Community” should be kept within reach by all wheelchair users and their companions.”
The New York Times says, “Often straight forward and informative, it is sometimes whimsical…an everyman’s guide to life as a paraplegic.”
Published in conjunction with New Mobility magazine and United Spinal Association, the book is available at Amazon.com, www.spinalnetwork.net or by calling 888/850-0344, ext. 209. READ MORE
But the news isn’t all bad. Thirty minutes of daily exercise and a 5 to 10 percent loss in body weight can lower the odds of diabetes by nearly 60 percent and is more effective than medicine in delaying its onset, according to a diabetes prevention study. READ MORE HERE
A man who once relied on Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) himself is now being appointed to lead the office on disability at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the department announced Wednesday.
As director of the HHS Office on Disability, Henry Claypool will be the top disability adviser to the secretary of Health and Human Services. Currently Kathleen Sebelius is in the nomination process for that position.
Claypool will also oversee all programs within HHS pertaining to individuals with disabilities. READ MORE HERE
For the first time, researchers have clearly shown regeneration of a critical type of nerve fiber that travels between the brain and the spinal cord and which is required for voluntary movement. The regeneration was accomplished in a brain injury site in rats by scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and is described in a study to be published in the April 6th early on-line edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). READ MORE HERE
SHORT HILLS, N.J., March 30, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ —-The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the national, non-profit organization dedicated to finding cures and treatments for spinal cord injuries and improving the lives of people living with paralysis, applauds President Obama for signing the Omnibus Public Lands Bill. Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on March 25 and the U.S. Senate on January 15, Title XIV of the Bill contains the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act. The Act was named for the late Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana, whose courage and grace in the face of adversity, coupled with their extraordinary activism, were an inspiration to millions around the world.
The landmark legislation, which enjoyed bi-partisan support, will promote collaborative research, rehabilitation and quality of life initiatives for millions of Americans living with paralysis and spinal cord injuries. READ MORE HERE
As many as a fifth of all Medicare patients are readmitted within a month of being discharged, according to the study, and a third are rehospitalized within 90 days.
Half the patients who returned to the hospital within 30 days of undergoing treatment other than surgery apparently did not see a doctor before they came back.
The high rate of hospital readmissions is “one of the fruits of an increasingly fragmented health care system,” said Dr. Stephen F. Jencks, a former Medicare official who is an author of the study, which analyzed Medicare claims information for 2003 and 2004. He estimated that the cost of the unplanned return trips was $17 billion in 2004 alone.
Policy analysts say that while high return rates have long been a problem, controlling those costs is increasingly urgent. READ MORE HERE
Most of us are trying to save money now. As a paraplegic or “mobility-challenged” individual, I think twice before making the long trip downtown.
When I discovered the “Eyeglass People” I solved both problems with one mailing. I sent off two old pair of glasses (frames in good condition) with my new prescription. Details can be found at www.eyeglaspeople.com or e-mail support@eyeglasspeople.com.
Mailed the glasses by Priority Mail in a Priority Mail package (get one free from the post office) and received the glasses back roughly 10 days later. They are comfortable as I remembered the old frames with the new prescription. I have a pair of bifocals and a pair of “reading only” glasses for only about $118. Or, $79.00 plus shipping for the bifocals, 39.00 plus shipping for the “reading only” glasses.
Couldn’t be happier, and I didn’t have to leave home. The Eyeglass People were courteous and helpful at every step of the way. My only question … why didn’t someone think of this sooner?
“ThinkFirst,” a program sponsored by The Brain & Spine Center at University Medical Center Brackenridge and Eastside Story, will be presented to students at Barbara Jordan Middle School March 5 at 4 p.m. by Mike Haynes, Manager of the Brain & Spine Recovery Center.
The goal of “ThinkFirst” is to reduce brain and spinal cord injury in children, teens and young adults by teaching students life-saving and injury-prevention tips through research-based educational programming. The program teaches youth to “use their minds to protect their bodies” and incorporates Voices for Injury Prevention speakers — people who have sustained a traumatic brain or spinal cord injury. Haynes sustained a spinal cord injury when he was shot in the back while attending University of Texas in 1982.
“It is important to educate them about anything from weapons to water sports that may put them at greater risk for a brain or spinal cord injury,” Haynes said. “Our programs are designed to reinforce the injury prevention message at crucial intervals to encourage young people to think first before engaging in risky behavior.” READ MORE HERE
Michael Flounders, a 52 year old man from Fressingfield, England broke his neck and suffered a spinal cord injury in a bad accident 20 years ago and thought he would never be able to walk again. However, thanks to the wonders of Adult Stem Cell research and having his own Adult Stem Cells implanted into his spinal cord in Ecuador, he now has aspirations of walking.
Mr. Flounders read about a new stem cell treatment in Luis Vernaza hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Dr. Luis Geffner had just completed an Adult Stem Cell research study of implanting the patient’s own stem cells from their bone marrow back into the patient’s spinal cord. READ MORE HERE