sábado, 24 de septiembre de 2016

Cochlear implant opens up the world for Army colonel | Health.mil

Cochlear implant opens up the world for Army colonel | Health.mil

Health.mil



Cochlear implant opens up the world for Army colonel

Dr. Elizabeth Searing (right) makes initial adjustments via a computer to Lt. Col. James Morrison's cochlear implant. Dr. April Luxner, an audiologist with Cochlear Corporation, was on hand to witness Morrison's reactions to hearing with his right ear after 12 years of deafness. (U.S. Army photo by Jeff Troth)

Dr. Elizabeth Searing (right) makes initial adjustments via a computer to Lt. Col. James Morrison's cochlear implant. Dr. April Luxner, an audiologist with Cochlear Corporation, was on hand to witness Morrison's reactions to hearing with his right ear after 12 years of deafness. (U.S. Army photo by Jeff Troth)



RECOMmended Content:
Access to Health CareMilitary Hospitals and ClinicsQuality and Safety of Health CareHearing Loss



FORT CARSON, Colo. — In the past 12 years, Army Lt. Col. James Morrison has seen ear, head and neck, and neurology specialists at the six posts where he was stationed, but to no avail. None of them could determine what caused the deafness in his right ear; their best diagnosis was that a virus destroyed his inner ear.
"In 2004 I woke up one morning and I had a bad case of vertigo, the whole room was spinning and I had lost hearing in my right ear," said Morrison, the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity - Fort Carson troop commander. "I went to the emergency department and they treated me. The vertigo eventually went away and never came back, but the hearing never came back." 
"I arrived at Fort Carson this summer and went for my annual hearing test," Morrison said. "I told them that I am profoundly deaf in my right ear and they weren't going to get any responses from me on that side."
During that visit, Dr. Elizabeth Searing, chief of Audiology Services at Evans Army Community Hospital, asked him if he had ever considered a cochlear implant, a procedure the hospital was just starting to offer to its adult patients.
A cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that replaces the function of the damaged inner ear. Unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, cochlear implants do the work of damaged parts of the inner ear (cochlea) to provide sound signals to the brain.
The procedure is done on an out-patient basis. During the 2-hour surgery the doctor makes a small incision behind the ear to insert a receiver under the skin and attach an electrode array to the hearing nerves within the ear. Morrison went home the day of his surgery and was up and about the next day.
"We are the only medical activity [at this level] in the Department of Defense that is doing cochlear implant surgery," Searing said. "They are being done at some of the larger medical centers, but no other community hospital offers this procedure to their patients."
Previously, in order to receive a cochlear implant, a patient had to have profound hearing loss of 80 decibels or more in both ears. Searing said that the thought process used to be that hearing in one ear was good enough.
"But, like you need two eyes to see distance you need two ears to hear distance," Searing said. "That is particularly important for our service members who are deployed. They need to be able to find where sound is coming from, where the enemy is, for their safety and the safety of their teammates."
Searing said that it is also important for those not in a combat situation to be able to locate sounds, such as a honking horn or a crying child.
"I have three children, and not being able to hear them has always been in the back of my mind," Morrison said. "When our children were young, my wife was an OR nurse and on the nights that she had to work or go in early I would do the best I could not to sleep on my good ear, so that if the kids needed me I would hear them."
He jokingly said that not hearing the kids when they were disruptive in the car was a big plus to being deaf on the right side. But the biggest negative was not being able to tell where sounds were coming from. 
"The biggest challenge was not being able to positionally relate to a sound," said Morrison. "I couldn't tell you if the sound was coming from my right side, left side, or behind me." 
Morrison's positional awareness of sounds is now coming back to him with the help of his wife, Melissa. She walks around behind him making noises and he tries to guess where that sound is coming from.
"The ear is like a muscle that you have to exercise," said Searing. "It takes time for the brain to relearn the spatial cues."
"It blows me away that a simple Army readiness requirement, getting my hearing checked, has ended up giving me back my hearing after 12 years," Morrison said. "Because of Army Medicine, there is now so much more that I can hear."
Disclaimer: Re-published content may have been edited for length and clarity. Read original post.






Bono reinforces support for disabled veterans, advocacy efforts

Article
9/23/2016
Defense Health Agency director Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono delivers keynote address to attendees of the Paralyzed Veterans of America’s ‘Mission:ABLE’ awards ceremony in downtown Washington, DC.
DHA director Vice Adm. Bono lauds the efforts of award recipients at the Paralyzed Veterans of America’s (PVA)‘Mission: ABLE’ awards ceremony and says advocacy groups help DHA serve disabled veterans.
Related Topics: Quality and Safety of Health CareWarrior Care

Nurse Advice Line serves as important tool for suicide prevention

Article
9/21/2016
Army Private 1st Class Luselys Lugardo, a soldier assigned to the New Jersey Army National Guard, poses in front of a shattered mirror for a portrait. The shattered glass represents the way suicide hurts families, friends and coworkers. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Matt Hecht)
There are many resources to help service members and their families in dealing with suicide. The Nurse Advice Line is one more tool to use.
Related Topics: Mental Health CareSuicide PreventionAccess to Health Care

Nurse Advice Line

Video
9/16/2016
Nurse Advice Line
You can call the Nurse Advice Line 24/7, at no cost to you, to talk to a registered nurse who can answer your urgent care questions, help you find a doctor, schedule next-day appointments at military hospitals and clinics and more.
Related Topics: Access, Cost, Quality, and SafetyAccess to Health CareMilitary Hospitals and ClinicsTRICARE Health Program

Hospital's sterile-processing techs are 'Gladiators' of patient safety

Article
9/14/2016
Army Staff Sgt. Oscar Domino (left), operating room technician, hands a sterile pack to Army Maj. Jerry Rivera-Santiago, sterile processing's officer in charge. Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center's Sterile Processing Department assembles and packs more than 400 surgical units monthly. (U.S. Army photo by Gloria Montgomery)
Sterile-processing medical technicians are the multipliers of hospital safety who clean, disinfect and sterilize the hospital and dental clinic's surgical tools
Related Topics: Health ReadinessMilitary Hospitals and ClinicsQuality and Safety of Health CarePatient Safety

Air Force, Army medics train together for MEDEX 16

Article
8/31/2016
Army Capt. Gregory Lacy, 228th Combat Support Hospital urologist, (center), assists Army Col. George Newton, 228th CSH general surgeon, (right), while Army Spc. Marinel Armstead, 228th CSH surgical scrub technician, (left), observes during MEDEX. During the medical exercise, Soldiers integrated with Airmen to train for responding to potential real world contingency operations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Araceli Alarcon)
Airmen and Soldiers integrated their assets, personnel and procedures, increasing the capabilities of Misawa Air Base’s medical treatment facility
Related Topics: Health ReadinessMilitary Hospitals and Clinics

Survival rates improving for Soldiers wounded in combat, says Army surgeon general

Article
8/26/2016
About 92 percent of Soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have made it home alive. Soldiers in a tactical critical care evacuation team prepare for a patient transfer mission at Forward Operating Base Orgun East, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo by Marleah Miller)
About 92 percent of Soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have made it home alive
Related Topics: Health ReadinessAccess to Health CareQuality and Safety of Health CareMilitary Hospitals and Clinics

Air Force and Navy medical teams integrate at sea

Article
8/11/2016
Medical personnel from the Air Force and Navy treat a simulated casualty during a mass casualty drill aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio. San Antonio is deployed with the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group to support maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.
Airmen from the U.S. Air Force 379th Expeditionary Medical Group (EMG), Mobile Field Surgical Team (MFST) and Expeditionary Critical Care Team (ECCT) are embarked aboard amphibious transport dock USS San Antonio.
Related Topics: Military Hospitals and ClinicsHealth Readiness

Research innovations improve en route care

Article
8/10/2016
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Erin Trueblood (center) and Air Force Staff Sgt. Luis Hernandez, 379th Expeditionary Medical Group Enroute Patient Staging Facility medical technicians, help load a patient onto a C-17 Globemaster III, at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. The patients was enroute to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, to receive a higher level of care. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Carlos J. Treviño)
The Combat Casualty Care Research Program at Fort Detrick, Maryland, is dedicated to constantly finding new ways to improve en route care through research and development
Related Topics: Health ReadinessResearch and InnovationAccess to Health Care

Defense Health Agency: A Joint, Integrated Premier System of Health

Brochure
8/2/2016
This brochure describes the Defense Health Agency, its mission and includes resources for more information.
Related Topics: Access to Health Care

BAMC one of several hospitals participating in emergency airway study

Article
7/28/2016
Army National Guard Sgt. Bobby Steward (left), a medic, assists Army National Guard Capt. Nicole Foster, a physician assistant as she intubates an airway on a training mannequin.
National Emergency Airway Registry is a multi-center, prospective emergency medicine led registry
Related Topics: Military Hospitals and ClinicsMedical Research and Development

Brooke Army Medical Center Transparency

Video
7/28/2016
Brooke Army Medical Center Transparency
This video highlights Brooke Army Medical Center's transparency initiatives and what they are doing to publish information about Patient Safety, Health Outcomes, Quality of Care and Patient Satisfaction.
Related Topics: Quality, Patient Safety and Access Information for MHS PatientsPatient Satisfaction and Access,Health OutcomesPatient SafetyQuality of CareMilitary Hospitals and Clinics

Texas Guardsmen contribute to medical relief effort

Article
7/22/2016
U.S. Air Force Capt. Brett Ringger, optometrist , 136th Medical Group, Texas Air National Guard, examines a patient  during the Greater Chenango Cares Innovative Readiness Training in Cortland, New York. The IRT provided medical care to patients at no cost, as well as eye examinations and glasses on site. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Elizabeth Gilbert)
The joint training exercise allows for service members to practice their skills in preparation for wartime operations while also providing a needed service to underserved communities
Related Topics: Access to Health CareCivil Military MedicineCivil SupportPublic Health

An Army specialist helps create a possible Zika vaccine

Article
7/22/2016
U.S. Army Spc. Chris Springer flashes a smile as he puts some of his work into one of the facility’s many refrigerators. (DoD photo by Katie Lange)
An Army specialist is one of very few service members to get to work on the Zika vaccine
Related Topics: Mosquito-Borne IllnessesZika VirusPublic HealthResearch and InnovationMilitary Hospitals and Clinics

When the heat is on, corpsmen refine skills to save lives

Article
7/21/2016
(Left to right) Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Michael Barber, Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Mashfik Hossain, Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Laurence Lau and Navy Cmdr. Trevor Carlson, Camp Geiger Branch Medical Clinic department head, work quickly to lower the simulated heat casualty’s body temperature. A core temperature of 107.5 can result in irreversible brain damage and 109 could result in a coma or death. (U.S. Navy photo by Danielle M. Bolton)
The Geiger clinic, responsible for the care of School of Infantry – East students and staff, sees more heat casualties than any other clinic
Related Topics: Military Hospitals and ClinicsQuality and Safety of Health Care

Warrior ethos drives Army pharmacist

Article
7/21/2016
Then-Army Lt. Col. Stacey Causey, chief of pharmacy at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center on Fort Bliss, Texas, is pictured at work, June 15, 2016. With a recent promotion, Causey is now one of 12 colonels in the Army who are pharmacists. (U.S. Army photo by Marcy Sanchez)
Col. Stacey Causey’s recent promotion makes him one of 12 pharmacists in the Army holding the rank of colonel
Related Topics: Military Hospitals and ClinicsTRICARE Pharmacy Program

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario