For Immediate Release
Contact: Derek Berry
Media Relations Manager
Washington, DC – July 15, 2009 – National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) is taking part in an National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded study focused on improving arm rehabilitation for stroke survivors. NRH, along with the University of Southern California, Emory University, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Huntington Rehabilitation Medicine Associates, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in California, will partake in the study, called ICARE.
ICARE, which stands for Interdisciplinary Comprehensive Arm Rehabilitation Evaluation, will include a total of 360 subjects, 120 of whom will be from NRH. It is a randomized control trial with the goal of improving outpatient therapy for arm paresis after an individual suffers from a stroke. The primary objective of this study is to test an experimental outpatient arm therapy called Accelerated Skill Acquisition Program (ASAP) derived from current evidenced-based practice.
“This new experimental arm therapy will be compared to two types of Occupational Therapy groups: a usual and customary care group that is simply monitored during their outpatient therapy and a usual and customary care group that will receive the same amount of outpatient therapy as the ASAP group,” says Lori Monroe, Occupational Therapist and Clinical Research Coordinator at NRH.
Monroe says study participants will be attending outpatient therapy sessions three times a week for at least 10 weeks and will be asked to attend periodic follow-up evaluations up to one year after the study has been completed.
NRH is looking for volunteers who have had a stroke to be evaluated to see if they qualify for the study. Participants of this study will include individuals who are 1-3 months post-stroke, are 21 years of age or older, and whose residual disability renders them unable to use their arm as desired in daily activities. If you are interested and would like more information about this study, please contact Lori Monroe at (202) 877-1922 or Lori.A.Monroe@MedStar.net.
National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) is a private, not-for-profit facility located in Northwest Washington, D.C. NRH’s services are designed specifically for the rehabilitation of individuals with disabling injuries and illnesses such as stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury and disease, arthritis, amputations, post-polio syndrome, chronic pain, back and neck pain, occupational injuries, cancer and cardiac disease that require medical rehabilitation, and other neurological and orthopedic conditions. NRH admits approximately 2,200 inpatients annually, has appeared on the “Best Hospitals” list in U.S. News & World Report for 15 consecutive years and is currently ranked among the top hospitals in medical rehabilitation in America. NRH has the only CARF accredited specialty program for both Spinal Cord Injury and Stroke in the region. In addition, NRH’s Spinal Cord Injury Program has been designated one of only 14 Model SCI Systems of care in the country by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), a part of the Department of Education. NRH is a proud member of MedStar Health