Thomas James Sr.
July 28, 2010Helping drivers safely share the road with bicyclists and runners
July 30, 2010
After a tremendous concern for the quality of life for people living with epilepsy, the Epilepsy Foundation of Louisiana decided to focus its efforts on raising awareness throughout the Louisiana community, particularly south of New Orleans.
On Friday, the foundation will host a community awareness and education program at the Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center (LJCMC), which will provide direct information from experts on diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy, epilepsy first aid and services in the community, according to the press release.
“We just really hadn’t felt like we had a lot of time or resources to reach out to those in need previously,” Dotty Martino, an executive director for the Epilepsy Foundation. “We wrote a grant to do outreach in areas that we feel were underserved.”
Experts in charge of the program assert that in order to help those living with epilepsy, understanding the condition is key.
“About 50 percent of people are born with it, and 50 percent develop it,” Martino said. “Most people think you are born with it, so when somebody is diagnosed as a 35-year-old, and they’ve never had anything like this before, counseling can bridge them into living with it.”
Epilepsy is a neurological condition that is more common than multiple sclerosis, stroke and breast cancer combined, and is caused by an electrical firing in the brain. The cause is unidentifiable.
“In 70 percent of epilepsy cases, the cause is unknown,” said Amy Nichols, a member of the Epilepsy Foundation. “Every single brain is different and every body is different, so every case has to be assessed individually.”
According to Nichols, 80,000 people in Louisiana have epilepsy, and one in every 100 people will develop the condition as they get older. Foundation research finds the quality of life living with the condition depends upon treatment success with anti-epileptic medicine, but 30 percent of those diagnosed do not respond well to medicine.
“Someone might get his or her medicine regulated and then gain five pounds and it changes the medication threshold,” Nichols said.
The counselors with the foundation work with individuals and families on issues like how to take medicine and where to get medical care. For a child who is born with the condition, the foundation works with families to help them to understand what limits the child may have, and how to help the child be successful working with it, according to Martino.
“It’s oldest documented illnesses in history and goes back to Bible,” Martino said. “It’s still misunderstood because there’s not a lot of good information put out there sometimes to have a better understand on what this disorder is like.”
Currently, an epilepsy class is conducted once a month at LJCMC, which includes free lunch. Those interested in attending classes or to register for the July 30 event can go to www.epilepsylouisiana.org or call 1- (800)-960-0587 for more information.
Friday’s event is free and open to the public, and will provide lunch and door prizes that will be randomly drawn.
“Our role is to make sure the state of Louisiana is as educated as possible,” Martino said.
