Connie Combs, Corner Pieces board member; Jeremy LaValley, Nan Wikol, Murray Wikol, founders of the Center and the Autism Treatment Network; and Early Intervention Center Director Jessica Irish are pictured holding an iPad that Corner Pieces donated. Corner Pieces, the Sault Ste. Marie-based organization dedicated to raising autism awareness throughout Michigan, donated four iPads to the Early Intervention Center in Southfield. The Early Intervention Center, started by the Autism Childrens Treatment Network in 2001, provides center-based services based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis to children struggling with Autism. Since its inception the center has provided positive results for hundreds of autistic children in Southfield and the surrounding areas. The iPads will be used in a variety of ways during the centers extensive summer camp programs, as well as throughout the regular school year. We are thrilled by this donation, many children will benefit, said Allison Greening, the director of the Early Intervention Center. Though the iPad is from far a cure, it is an extremely effective tool to aid the progress of speech, and social skills that many of these children are lacking, said Corner Piece board member Jeremy LaValley, who delivered the iPads to the center. Funding … Continue reading →

Health Businesses say theyll keep pledge to help fund part of a 2-year pilot program. The million-dollar donation for autism treatment pledged by insurance companies and other private businesses still hasnt shown up in Utahs coffers, something mom Christine Passey isnt surprised to hear. "The problem isnt imminent for them," said the Sugar House mother. "There isnt a piece of legislation in front of them that is going to force them to cover kids with autism right this minute." Autism in Utah But getting help for her 4-year-old autistic daughter is urgent, so the family has started paying about $800 per week for therapy. They wish they could do more. "Its brutal," Passey said. "But we cant wait she needs it now." Though Utah has yet to join the several dozen states mandating insurance coverage of autism treatment, legislators created an autism-treatment pilot program earlier this year that was expected to be voluntarily funded, in part, with private dollars. The two-year pilot was seen by many as a compromise, providing treatment for about 350 children between the ages of 2 and 6, through a combination of Medicaid, state and private dollars. House Speaker Becky Lockhart said Wednesday that "no one … Continue reading →

Mechanical treatment is a landmark for stroke victims By Vincent Ryan Thursday, July 12, 2012 A new mechanical treatment for stroke victims developed in Galway allows doctors to push a thread into a patients brain and, using a basket, remove a brain clot. Eamon Brady, chief executive of Neuvari, the company behind the breakthrough, said the device was inserted into a patient after a doctor made an incision in the groin and threaded the "stent basket" device into the femoral artery. The device is fed into the femoral artery, on to the aorta, and up to carotid artery which connects to the brain. Once the stent arrives at the brain it deploys a basket which captures the clot causing the stroke. It can remove the blockage, restoring the normal blood flow to the brain. The device is one of the worlds first mechanical solutions to treat strokes. Until now doctors could only rely on a chemical treatment, thrombolysis, which has very limited usage. "Drug trials for stroke treatments started 50 years ago," said Mr Brady. "To date there have been about 900 trials and only one treatment approved thrombolysis which can only be used in a fifth of stroke patients. … Continue reading →