Oct 27, 2012
Meghan Freeman
St. Louis, MO (October 24, 2012) – The Gateway Area Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is partnering with Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital by providing the John L. Trotter MS Center with funding to reopen its MS clinic. The MS comprehensive care center closed to patients with Medicaid and the uninsured in July 2012 due to low reimbursement and inadequate operating funds. These patients have limited options because many clinics no longer accept self-pay patients and those with Medicaid.
The MS clinic will now serve both patients with Medicaid and patients on a self-pay basis from Missouri and Illinois. The clinic also operates as an educational center for Resident Physicians to have direct training in MS multidisciplinary care. MS Center Faculty Member, Dr. Robert T. Naismith, supervises and directs all aspects of this clinic.
The National MS Society will provide an on-site social worker for personal visits. The social worker will help patients with a variety of services, such as navigating accessible transportation, and accessing community resources for financial, household, and legal support.
Gateway Area Chapter President Phyllis Robsham said, “Our mission is to address challenges of people living with MS and mobilize all possible resources. The availability of this clinic is crucial to patients who would otherwise not be able to afford adequate care for MS.”
On October 25, the John L. Trotter Center accepted a grant for $50,000 from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, enabling the clinic to reopen its doors and provide direct, specialized care for patients with MS.
For more information regarding the John L. Trotter WU/NMSS MS Center, call Director Robert Naismith, MD at 314-362-3293. For information about the National MS Society, call Public Relations Administrator Meghan Freeman at 314-446-4165.
About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and over 2.1 million worldwide.
About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t. The Society addresses the challenges of each person affected by MS by funding cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, collaborating with MS organizations around the world, and providing programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward.
Last year alone, through our national office and 50-state network of chapters, we devoted over $161 million to programs that enhanced more than one million lives. To move us closer to a world free of MS, the Society also invested more than $37 million to support 325 new and ongoing research projects around the world. The Society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. Join the movement at nationalMSsociety.org.
Early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can make a difference for people with multiple sclerosis. Learn about your options by talking to your health care professional and contacting the National MS Society at nationalMSsociety.org or 1-800-344-4867. You may also contact your local Gateway Area Chapter at www.gatewayMSsociety.org or 314-781-9020.