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30 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 Expansion, Innovation, Accessibility: Trinity Health Of New England Makes Neurological Health a Priority SPONSORED CONTENT Pooia Fattahi, M.D. Regional Chair of Neurology Trinity Health Of New England T he brain is a complex and mysterious organ, with scientists and doctors working to understand it more and more every day. The medical world has come a long way in treating neurological disorders, but the World Health Organization estimates nearly 1 in 6 people around the globe suffer from a neurological condition, with 6.8 million people dying from them each year. Trinity Health Of New England has been working strategically to build a robust team of specialists to provide comprehensive care for these patients, close to home. In a conversation with Dr. Pooia Fattahi, Trinity's Regional Chair of Neurology, we discuss how they're working to bring services, technology, and specialists straight to the patient. Q: The Trinity Health Of New England Neurology care team has taken several steps within the last few months to bolster its ability to provide patients with a wide array of services not found in many other hospitals. Can you talk about what that looks like and how that helps patients with neurological issues? A: We're working strategically to grow our team of sub-specialists and acquire new technology, allowing us to expand our services. Patients now have access to the best possible care for all neurological issues, from migraines and headaches to more complicated conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, right here in their communities. We're using a hub-spoke model to rotate our specialists throughout the region. That means patients won't have to travel across the state to see the best doctor for treating their condition. Instead, that doctor will rotate to a hospital or office near them for easy access to care. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, patients can see, for example, their Multiple Sclerosis specialist, an interventional pain specialist, pharmacist, and meet with the physical therapy program all in one visit. We also offer teleneurologist services for those with difficulty coming to the office, perhaps a patient with Parkinson's or dementia who doesn't always have access to transportation. Q: What kind of technology and services are supporting these sub-specialists? A: We're proud to offer both an Epilepsy Center and the Mandell MS Center, as well as Joint Commission accredited Advanced Stroke Programs. We also have a headache clinic, using different treatment modalities including Botox for various conditions such as headaches, migraines, and spasms. As far as technology goes, our Ceribell Rapid EEG is changing the game for inpatient treatment at local hospitals. It's a small, portable device that captures data which is uploaded live, enabling providers to view data in real time, leading to decreased time for treatment. The data can be uploaded to the cloud for the doctor to view, allowing for flexibility in treatment location. Our Long-term EEG monitoring provides 24/7 monitoring of patients in a critical care setting. Typical routine EEG captures short periods of time but being able to view the big picture affords the ability to titrate medication more accurately while seeing the effects on the patient in real-time. We also offer an Inpatient Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. Patients are monitored continuously for several days, allowing providers to characterize seizures in better detail, work with different medications and measure their effectiveness. Q: What conditions or medical issues does a Neurology Department treat? What issues fall under this category? And are they all treatable disorders? A: The brain is a complex and marvelous thing; it is our command center. It controls thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, breathing and so much more. Neurological conditions run the gamut from Alzheimer and Parkinson disease, strokes, MS and epilepsy to migraine, brain injuries and neuroinfections. Many of these conditions can be treated and managed using medication, therapies like acupuncture, nerve blocks, Botox, epidural treatments, and non-invasive surgical procedures like angioplasty and stenting. Our team is able to see and treat patients with all of these conditions. We also conduct research to find the best treatment options for patients, including clinical trials. Q: Why is it so important for a hospital to have a strong neurological program? A: Neurological conditions affect a wide variety of patients and are more common than perceived, so it is very important to have a robust team to treat and manage them. Patients are becoming more educated and are aware of different treatments. MRI and CT SCAN have become more affordable and primary care doctors are becoming more engaged, allowing us to diagnose these conditions much sooner. There is no one treatment that fits all. We need to work with different departments and manage the disorder with a team approach, collaborating with different physicians and departments to find the best treatment for the individual patient. Q: Where do you see the future of the Neurology Department, is there continued room for growth? A: Yes, definitely. There are new technologies on the horizon. A Bi-plane machine will provide higher resolution and quicker turnaround time for acute stroke management. Our continued research through the Mandell MS Center, neurophysiology lab, headache clinic, and epilepsy center are bringing us closer to new developments every day. All of our neurologists have an affiliation with local medical schools as Assistant Clinical Professors. That allows our neurologists to teach the next generation of doctors on how to treat different disorders, and also keeps them on the cutting edge of the latest and greatest treatments available to the patient. The philosophy of our physician is to treat different disorders with having patients actively engaged and the center of all discussion. An engaged patient and community is paramount to effective long term management of various neurological disorders. To learn more visit TrinityHealthOfNE.org/ Neurology