• Share
  • Add this to...
  • Favorites
  • Del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo MyWeb
• 
• 
• 
• 

Epilepsy

Nearly 3 million Americans have diagnosed epilepsy, about 300,000 of them are 18 or younger. Every year, approximately 50,000 new cases are diagnosed in children and adolescents under the age of 18.

Epilepsy is a central nervous system disorder characterized by unprovoked, recurrent seizures. Although it often can be treated successfully with medications, surgery and diet, epilepsy can be a life-altering condition.

Improving Care to Children & Youth with Epilepsy

The Epilepsy Grant Program integrates public health, epilepsy affiliates and providers to develop more seamless services across primary and specialty care, educational services and other community resources. 

Project Access grants to states and local governments support demonstration projects to improve access to seizure-related health and other services and encourage early detection and treatment in children and others residing in medically underserved areas. The projects

• Assure the involvement of all relevant persons in the system of care (families, providers, community members etc.);
• Implement family-centered, culturally competent medical home components; and
• Improve clinical practices.  

Cleveland Clinic                             Tatiana Falcone, MD, project director 216-444-7459	Epilepsy Foundation       Mimi E. Browne, MPH, project director 301.918.3718	Epilepsy Foundation of Florida Judy Clauser, director of special projects 305-670-4949
Epilepsy Foundation of Western & Central Pennsylvania Peggy Beem-Jelley, project director 412-322-5880	Michigan Department of Community Health CSHCS Division 320 S. Walnut Street Lansing, MI 48913 Linda Fletcher, project coordinator 517-241-5071	Munroe-Meyer Institute University of Nebraska Medical Center Dr. Linda Cook, project coordinator 402-559-5007
New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Special Medical Services Elizabeth Collins, CSHCN director 603-271-8181

Project Access national resource center cooperative agreement supports

• technical assistance to grantees;
• public awareness;
• program evaluation; and
• ongoing continuous quality improvement activities, such as learning collaboratives.

The Epilepsy Foundation is the current grantee.

Both funding opportunities will help to address recommendations from the Institute Of Medicine report, Epilepsy Across the Spectrum: Promoting Health and Understanding , focusing on the following:

• Develop and evaluate prevention efforts for epilepsy and its consequences (Recommendation 3)
• Improve the early identification of epilepsy and its co-morbid health conditions (Recommendation 4)
• Develop and implement a national quality measurement and improvement strategy for epilepsy care (Recommendation 5); and
• Improve the delivery and coordination of community services (Recommendation 8 )

These activities will also contribute to potential areas of collaboration for HRSA as a participant in an ongoing HHS-wide Epilepsies Workgroup that focuses on follow-up activities to address the IOM study.