Winter 2021 Edition

Thirty years ago, a major victory was achieved in the ongoing civil rights movement for legal rights and protections for people with disabilities. On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed and signed into law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability and helping to ensure equal access to opportunities. This groundbreaking legislation is recognized today as the most comprehensive disability law in the United States, mirroring and supplementing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

When the vaccine was announced, TIRR staff immediately went to work setting up a vaccine clinic so that TIRR’s most vulnerable patients with disabilities and chronic medical conditions, including polio patients, could receive the immunization.

ILRU has stepped up during COVID-19 through its IL-NET National Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) Center for Independent Living, providing specialized technical consulting and training related to the virus for the nearly 500 Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and the 56 Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs) in American states and territories.

TIRR Memorial Hermann has been recognized as No. 1 in Texas in Newsweek magazine’s inaugural list of Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers, which was released last summer. This comes on the heels of our ranking by U.S. News World Report as No. 1 in Texas and No. 3 in the United States.

TIRR Memorial Hermann and the Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Network are leading the charge in functional rehabilitation of individuals who no longer test positive after having had COVID-19. The hospital’s evidence-based interventions allow patients to go beyond the clinical setting, providing them with the opportunity to participate in important life roles in home, work, volunteer and community environments.

TIRR Memorial Hermann’s post-COVID-19 therapy program for patients who no longer test positive opened in May. Built on the hospital’s strong program of respiratory support, the program is evolving as more information about what the virus does to the body becomes available.

In March 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced priority levels for testing patients with symptoms of COVID-19 and provided information on when to seek medical attention. At the same time, the agency provided almost no guidance for people with spinal cord injury (SCI), who may not present with typical symptoms due to physiological changes.

A comprehensive rehabilitation program with a multidisciplinary approach can reduce ICU-acquired weakness, dysphagia, functional decline, psychological problems and cognitive impairment, and improve quality of life, according to Radha Korupolu, MD, MS, Gerard Francisco, MD, Harvey Levin, PhD, and Dale Needham, MD, PhD, in an article published in The Journal of The International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

Given the lack of robust evidence in people with SCI, Dr. Korupolu and Dr. Stampas re-examined the current protocol for determining optimal tidal volume in that population. After designing a study protocol and gaining institutional approval, they conducted a cohort study, examining data from 84 adults with SCI admitted to TIRR Memorial Hermann on mechanical ventilation.

TIRR Memorial Hermann will offer the same quality of nationally ranked, customized care for pediatric patients who have suffered a severe injury or illness and would benefit from rehabilitation in an inpatient setting. The new pediatric unit is locked, has a private, fully equipped, child-friendly therapy gym and an outdoor sports court. TIRR Memorial Hermann accepts patients from the age of 6 months to teenagers.

TIRR Memorial Hermann ranked No. 3 among the country’s top rehabilitation hospitals in the U.S. News and World Report Best Hospital rankings for 2020-2021. TIRR has been included in the prestigious rankings since the report’s inception in 1989.

Virtual learning has enabled the TIRR Memorial Hermann Education Academy to expand its reach to rehabilitation professionals practicing across the United States and around the world.

The Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals recently announced that Liza Criswell, OTR, ATP, an occupational therapist at TIRR Memorial Hermann, has been named the 2020 recipient of the Therapy Leadership Council Distinguished Clinician Award. The recognition is given to a member of the organization who has demonstrated outstanding clinical contributions in the area of spinal cord injury and spinal cord disorder (SCI/D).

Researchers at TIRR Memorial Hermann are conducting a study to determine whether a self-management strategy, in the form of a mood tracker smartphone app, can improve emotional distress in survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI), or make it less likely that they will develop it. The investigation is part of the $2.3 million Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS) grant to TIRR Memorial Hermann.

Thayer and her colleagues were awarded the $10,000 grant to determine if an online teaching platform about a sensitive topic could successfully strengthen nurses’ confidence in supporting a patient in mirror viewing after a disfiguring event. To begin the study, 25 TIRR Memorial Hermann nurses took an online survey to assess their knowledge and feelings about helping patients with limb loss look at themselves in the mirror for the first time.

Dr. Gerard Francisco recieves AAP Distinguished Academician Award; Dr. Angelle Sander named President-Elect of ACRM's Brain Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group; Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD, named Chair of PMR Deaprtment of UTHealth San Antonio; TIRR Memorial Hermann Welcomes New Physicians

This issue of the TIRR Memorial Hermann Journal is focused on our continued evolution to meet the needs of our habitat – the global disability community – in the face of a rapidly evolving pandemic.