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Northeast Center for Special Care to Co-sponsor International Think Tank
to Build Consensus on Coma and other Impairments of Consciousness
 
For Immediate Release: April 20, 2006
Northeast Center for Special Care to Co-sponsor
International Think Tank to Build Consensus on Coma and other Impairments
of Consciousness
The Impairments of Consciousness working meeting on Coma and Coma-like
states will bring together leaders from all sides of the issue April 21-23
as the first step of an international project to help shape the future of
the assessment, treatment, and research surrounding altered states of
consciousness. International experts will be sponsored guests of Northeast
Center for Special Care and National Brain Injury Research, Treatment and
Training Foundation (NBIRTT), for three days at Mohonk Mountain House in
New Paltz, NY. Medline, GSR Consulting, and Mid Hudson Valley Federal
Credit Union are supporters of Northeast Center for Special Care and have
provided other amenities for the Impairments of Consciousness
participants.
The participants’ purpose will be to identify innovative and tangible
solutions to the complex issues of assessment and treatment of and
research on individuals recovering from coma and other impairments of
consciousness, while firmly placing the needs of the patient at the center
of the discussion.
Impairments of Consciousness is a three-day working meeting with the
purpose to review the latest research on altered states of consciousness
and to prepare a consensus statement that will be distributed to the
National Institute of Health, United States Congress and Worldwide. The
peer group includes noted clinicians, researchers and policy-makers from
around the world. Experts from national and international health care
organizations, including Northeast Center for Special Care will
participate in the working meeting along with attendees from
internationally recognized institutions of higher learning. The United
States Department of Defense and the Center for Disease Control will also
be represented.
Dr. George Zitnay, a member of the World Health Organization Director
General’s Panel of Experts in Neurotrauma said, “The growing number of
patients remaining in a vegetative state on a world wide basis is becoming
a social and ethical dilemma demanding answers on a scientific and
political level if progress is to be made. I am encouraged by the work of
this group.”
This working meeting will be highly participatory and nonpartisan.
Attendees will build innovative recommendations and prepare their report
in concert.
A schedule of presentations to introduce the issues is prepared for the
first day of the meeting. ”The State of the Science: What we know and
what we need to know” will be presented Dr. Joseph T. Giacino from
the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute. Dr. John Whyte from Moss
Rehabilitation Research Institute will lead discussion of this
presentation. From New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Center,
Dr. Joseph J. Fins will present a talk entitled “Putting Disorders of
Consciousness into a Social Context: Ethical Reflections After Schiavo.”
Dr. Steve Laureys, of Universite de Liege in Belgium, will present “European
Guidelines” and Dr. Jose Leon Carrion of the University of Seville
will lead the follow-up discussion. Jean Berube, JD and Dr. George Zitnay
of National Brain Injury Research, Treatment and Training Foundation will
discuss the “Impediments to Scientific Research and Treatment.”
On day two, the work begins. Meeting attendees will identify priority
solutions that will serve as the focus of a series of policy reform
recommendations that will form around the highest priorities identified.
Day three of the meeting has been reserved for discussion of next steps
and to draft an outline for the report to the National Institute of Health
and United States Congress.
The blending of science, social context, and advocacy contained within the
final report on Impairments of Consciousness will only have been made
possible by international participation in a think tank format. This
landmark event will move the compassion-based recovery and care of the
hundreds of thousands of individuals recovering from Impairments of
Consciousness, worldwide, toward best possible outcomes.
In a message of welcome to the meeting participants, Co-Chair of the
United States Congressional Brain Injury Task Force Congressman Bill
Pascrell, Jr., said, “The Congressional Brain Injury Task Force eagerly
awaits the results of your work.”
Media contact: Northeast Center for Special Care, Beth Faichney, Director of Community Relations
845-336-3500
Founded in 1999, Northeast
Center for Special Care is a unique inpatient facility designed to serve
medically complex and multiply impaired individuals with brain injury,
spinal cord injury, neurobehavioral disorders, ventilator and respiratory
care needs and other complex medical needs. Advanced professional skills
and innovative therapies are coupled with an unwavering belief in the
potential of every individual to progress. It is this belief that drives
our commitment to help those recovering at Northeast Center achieve the
highest degree of rehabilitation possible and to re-enter the
community.
For additional information, contact Northeast Center for Special Care, 300
Grant Avenue, Lake Katrine, NY 12449, telephone 845-336-3500 or visit our
web site:
www.northeastcenter.com
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