What's Happening in Bridgeton, MO…

A hospital in Maryland Heights has been awarded a grant for a new clinic.

Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital will open the first concussion clinic program in the area. According to the hospital's CEO Brett Moorehouse, Ranken Jordan is a unique institution, as it does not feel like a medical setting. He says children feel more comfortable there and want to be there, and they can learn, play, and grow as they get treatment.

The facility offers treatment for a variety of injuries and illnesses, now including concussions. The Berges Family Foundation gave the hospital the grant, which the hospital used to buy impulse goggles. High-speed impulse goggles can catch visual differences in concussion patients that the naked eye cannot see.

Ranken Jordan provides mainly outpatient treatment for concussions with a combination of speech, physical, and occupational therapy. Julia Schuetz, an occupational therapist, said that speech therapy works with cognitive processes, physical therapy aids in regaining balance and healing the inner ear, and occupational therapy helps with vision. Therapy involving all three simultaneously has the best success rate among patients.

Language and speech therapist Jenny Cox commented that concussion varies from case to case. Patients sometimes feel normal at first and go about their regular activities at school, but once they receive new information and experience distractions, symptoms start to emerge.

Print shops can make visuals and worksheets therapists use to test and improve functions affected by a concussion.

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