MINNEAPOLIS, May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- New treatment approach for persons recovering from brain injury or stroke
Research has shown that a new therapy may help patients with hemiparesis, or weakness on one side of the body, achieve a 20 to 40 percent gain in functional use of the affected arm. Constrained Induced Movement Therapy, or CIMT, is available from the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute. The therapy is designed for patients who are recovering from a brain injury or stroke. Contact: Jennifer Syltie Johnson at 612-863-4801.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000407/ALLINAHCLOGO ) RAT helps save lives
A RAT is saving lives Buffalo, Minn. No, not the long-tailed rodent kind of rat. This RAT stands for Rapid AMI Transfer, a new pilot medical protocol started by Allina’s Buffalo Hospital and Mercy & Unity Hospitals to better treat heart attack patients. (AMI is short for acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack.) RAT streamlines the process of assessing, stabilizing, transferring and treating heart attacks patients. Contact: Vince Rivard at 763-236-3777.
Obesity surgery in the Twin Cities on the rise
Some Twin Cities hospitals are seeing increased demand for surgery to treat obesity, a chronic disease that the government says could soon replace smoking as the nation’s No. 1 cause of preventable death. Demand for gastric bypass surgery at the Bariatric Center of Mercy & Unity Hospitals has mirrored the national increase of more than 40 percent annually. Surgeons at Mercy & Unity will perform almost 1,000 gastric bypasses in 2004, up from 29 when the program began in 1996. This surgery is reserved only for the morbidly obese because of the risk and requirement of a lifetime commitment to strict dietary changes and exercise. Contact: Vince Rivard at 763-236-3777.
Innovative ‘blanket’ gives surgery patients a warm feeling
Cotton patient gowns and warmed cotton blankets are history in St. Francis’ Procedural Services Department. Surgery patients at the Shakopee hospital can now control their warmth while wearing the Bair Paws patient adjustable warming system. The system combines forced-air warming and patient gowning in one step. Each patient is given his or her own, single-use-warming gown. The system uses a warming unit that delivers warmed air through a hose to perforations in the specially designed warming gown. Contact: Karen Cook at 952-403-2228.
Heart Center expansion opens amid increasing demand in northern suburbs
The $40 million expansion of the Mercy Heart Center continues its staggered opening in the coming months. In April, cardiologists and medical teams performed the first procedures in the state’s most technologically advanced cath labs. Located in one of the fastest growing areas in Minnesota, demand for cardiovascular services at the hospitals is expected to grow almost 20 percent in the next 5 years.
Allina Hospitals & Clinics is a non-profit network of hospitals, clinics and other health care services that provide care throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000407/ALLINAHCLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, +1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840 Allina Hospitals & Clinics
CONTACT: Vince Rivard of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, +1-763-236-3777
Web site: http://www.allina.com/
