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Recent Blog Posts
- 2011 Chicago Marathon Summary
- The Patient: The Person at the Center of My Care
- Significant SCI Research Breakthrough
- Man In Motion, A True Advocate
- College Football SCI Underscores Urgency for a Cure
- Study Shows US Health Care System Fails to Meet Needs of those with Spinal Cord Injury
- Budget Cuts Reduce Disabled Transit
- New Jersey State to Cut Spinal Cord Injury Research Funds
- Recent Study on US Health Care System Performance
- Good Article on Making Babies After SCI
Spinal Cord Injury News's blog
Study Shows US Health Care System Fails to Meet Needs of those with Spinal Cord Injury
Submitted by Spinal Cord Inj... on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 16:31Study Shows U.S. Healthcare System Does Not Meet the Needs of Those with SCI
This was a group of studies conducted by the University of Michigan studying various aspects of health care with spinal cord injury.
Some of the important conclusions from the different articles:
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Emergency room care for those with SCI is lacking. I have also heard anecdotal accounts of ER horror stories for those with SCI (doctors on duty unaware of the need for catheterization for a SCI patient, limited knowledge of risk for pressore sores) and the study:
highlights how Emergency Room
providers might not have the knowledge to effectively treat
individuals with chronic SCI. Conclusions were based on a
survey of how familiar emergency medicine physicians were
with SCI medicine and their responses to clinical vignettes
about patients with SCI receiving critical care
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The tremendous burden presented by the ongoing care associated with SCI.
the extent of the challenges that individuals with SCI face and lays out potential solutions to better meet the ongoing post-rehabilitation health care needs of people with SCI. Access to timely and appropriate health care is vital to the well-being of individuals with SCI, and they often have problems obtaining the kinds of health services they need when they need them.
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Smaller demographics with SCI (such as African-Americans and women) have difficulty getting good treatment:
Participants
talked about their difficulties in finding knowledgeable
providers, the importance of educating and collaborating with
health care providers, and how their perceptions of their
provider's respect, bias and discrimination have a strong
impact on the health outcomes.
All in all, this appears to be a very sobering study, but that is not a surprise to anyone who is associated with this condition or health care for chronic conditions in the United States in general.
Budget Cuts Reduce Disabled Transit
Submitted by Spinal Cord Inj... on Mon, 07/26/2010 - 19:59EVLiving.com: Valley Transit Service Reductions Hit Disabled Hard
In Arizona, I don't expect the 75% unemployment rate for people with spinal cord injuries who can't drive will be decreasing any time soon.
Going to work, getting an education, visiting friends and relatives and other activities could be severely cut for disabled valley residents when July transit services reductions go into effect.
New Jersey State to Cut Spinal Cord Injury Research Funds
Submitted by Spinal Cord Inj... on Fri, 07/02/2010 - 21:00Recent Study on US Health Care System Performance
Submitted by Spinal Cord Inj... on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 21:00Sometimes its easy to ignore how bad the US health care system really is. Unfortunately for those with a SCI, it is a daily reality that cannot be ignored. The worst part is how much we have to pay for the substandard care we do receive. With disabled unemployment at all time highs and most disabled people living at/below the poverty line, it is easy to understand the disturbing rankings in the graphic from the study below--last place in both "Equity" and "Long, Healthy, Productive Lives".
Good Article on Making Babies After SCI
Submitted by Spinal Cord Inj... on Sun, 06/20/2010 - 21:00PhillyBurbs.com: 'For everything I've lost, I've gained so much more':
"We have promising new treatments that would just die on the vine"
Submitted by Spinal Cord Inj... on Fri, 05/14/2010 - 21:00"The state's budget woes are being felt at the New York State Neural Stem Cell Institute, where scientists have been working to find ways to regenerate damaged spinal cords.
New York officials now want to use the funds that are collected from a surcharge on moving violation traffic fines and dedicated to research to instead help close the budget gap. Legislation establishing the Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust Fund provided that up to $8.5 million a year was to fund research into spinal cord injuries.
Sally Temple is scientific director at the stem cell institute, housed in the Cancer Research Center at the University at Albany's East Campus. Grants from the trust fund cover about 20 to 30 percent of the institute's activities.
New York Legislature Cuts Self-Funding Spinal Cord Injury Program
Submitted by Spinal Cord Inj... on Thu, 03/11/2010 - 22:00"In 1998, with the help of friends and influential people like Christopher Reeve, Richter got the state to create the Spinal Cord Injury Research Board, which distributes research grants to facilities all across the state. To fund it, the state placed a surcharge on fines for moving traffic violation.
"It’s a self-sustaining program,” Richter explained. “It was an idea I had to try to raise money, and most spinal cord injuries result from automobile and motorcycle accidents."