Latest news with #NextSteps
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Nexstar Founder's Day of Caring returns to Huntsville
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — News 19 is happy to announce that we will participate in Nexstar Media Group's 29th annual Founder's Day of Caring. Nexstar's Founder's Day of Caring happens each year in June. It allows employees the opportunity to volunteer work during the workday at non-profit and public service organizations in the local communities served by Nexstar television stations. You can learn more about the organizations we are helping below: From Infant University to Family Connections and Next Steps programs, the Village of Promise is committed to helping families advance out of generational poverty. The organization is building a pipeline of services from cradle to college and career that supports and inspires success. We are proud to include the Village of Promise in our Nexstar Founders Day of Caring. News 19 will prepare the VoP classrooms for the Preschool and Kindergarten scholars to learn and grow. Cleaning and organizing is the strategy of the day at VOP. If you've heard the quote, 'If you can read this, thank a teacher,' then you know this next organization is valuable. Free 2 Teach is a teacher resource partnership that provides materials to every educator from Huntsville City, Madison County, Athens City and Limestone County schools. Teachers can browse materials and supplies at Free 2 Teach once a month, taking anything they need. In 2024, nearly $1.8 million in supplies were distributed, and 36,000 children were impacted. That's an average of $450 per teacher per visit, and for teachers, these resources are free. Our opportunity with Free 2 Teach includes organizing supplies and materials, including science experiment kits. Additionally, we are taking supply donations for each. We ask that you consider donating items to help these amazing local organizations. Fliers are around the building with specific needs. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Non-invasive stimulation device shows promise in treating spinal cord injuries
WILLOW SPRINGS, Ill. (WGN) — There has been an extraordinary step forward in the treatment of spinal cord injuries. For the patients who come through the door of the Next Steps clinic in southwest suburban Willow Springs, it takes tremendous effort. But it's worth it. 'We are really living out our mission here at Next Steps, which was to provide access to technology at a community level,' physical therapist and clinic director Mary Jones said. Bari Rubenstein has been living with quadriplegia for 14 years – the result of an infection and subsequent hematoma that damaged the nerves in her spine. 'I never thought in my lifetime I would get this opportunity,' she said. It's access to a device called ARC-EX that's giving Rubenstein some hope. 'It is able to bridge an electrical gap and cover that injury so new pathways within the spinal cord can create movement,' Jones said. Electrical nerve stimulation is not new, but the ARC-EX is non-invasive – it delivers pulses from electrodes placed on the skin that amplify weakened signals from the brain. The stimulation helps restore muscle activation below the site of injury, which is often blocked. An electrode is placed above Rubenstein's injury and another is placed below. 'So the stimulation bridges that area of the injury,' Jones said. Once the leds and electrodes are all connected, Jones starts the stimulation and gradually ramps it up. As the stimulation activates the muscles, clinic director Jones reinforces the movement. 'We pair that with retraining, learning how to re-move for those persons with spinal cord injury, and that device helps make that connection that was once lost with spinal cord injury,' she said. 'I have better breath support, which is huge because a lot of times people can't hear me, so I'm trying to amplify my voice more,' Rubenstein said. 'Even people with chronic injuries are seeing gains with this,' Jones said. 'People 14 years out, you think, 'At 14 years what is out there for me?' This device could be that device.' At Next Steps, patient Trevor Hayden takes steps without the device. It's a significant struggle. 'It's so choppy because it's like three separate motions,' he said. More News, Weather and Headlines at The 33-year-old, paralyzed in a truck accident eight years ago, travels nearly three hours twice a week so he can access the new stimulation system. 'The pulse that it delivers is almost you can feel it kind of spreading, and it's not just directed right where the pad placement is,' he said. 'This feeling of kind of waking things up in a way.' The steps with the device are more fluid and take less effort. '(It is) much easier. It just feels like everything is kind of pulled together,' Hayden said. The care provided at Next Steps is a labor of love born from loss. Jon O'Connor was 30-years-old when he hit his head after jumping off a dock. 'He got paralyzed C4-C5. Very high level. All he had was use of his right bicep,' his father John O'Connor said. But the injury did not deter his tenacity. In the years following his accident, Jon worked tirelessly to build a non-profit clinic that offered fellow patients the most promising treatments to improve movement and strength. 'Even though some things wouldn't benefit himself, he saw the value that it would have for others and fought for that,' his sister Kelly Heneghan said. Now his family continues the fight. Jon passed away in 2013 – 12 years after his injury – due to the secondary effects of his paralysis. More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch 'We really want to be able to give our patients the most technologically advanced equipment, and at that time and still to this day, a lot of those things are reserved for clinical trials,' said Heneghan. Not at Next Steps, where technology like the Onward device is up and running for all those who may benefit. 'To me it feels like my muscles are waking up,' Rubenstein said. 'For a long time it was nothing.' 'I wish Jon could be here to see this. This is exactly what he would have fought for, and the fact that we have it now is really exciting for our patients,' Heneghan said. 'I get emotional about it because there are brilliant people, brilliant scientists out there coming up with these type of devices, and to see it come and change peoples' lives and being part of that is a really big gift,' Jones said. An at-home unit is in the works. The device makers hope to have that available in 2026. Sign up for our Medical Watch newsletter. This daily update includes important information from WGN's Dina Bair and the Med Watch team, including, the latest updates from health organizations, in-depth reporting on advancements in medical technology and treatments, as well as personal features related to people in the medical field. Sign up here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Illinois clinic one of first places in the country to offer new device to spinal cord injury patients
With electrodes stuck to different parts of his back along his spine, Shane Callahan practiced walking on a recent day — with help from an exercise specialist and a harness that helped hold him upright. Callahan has a spinal cord injury, so he wasn't supporting all of his own weight or moving his legs by himself. But something had changed. He had a little bit of sensation in his feet. 'It's pretty strange,' said Callahan, 22, of Lockport, who was injured as a passenger in a car accident 1 1/2 years ago. Since he started using the device with the electrodes, he said, he can feel his feet touching surfaces, though they still can't feel pain or temperature. 'I think there's definitely noticeable progress.' The device, called the ARC-EX, delivers electrical pulses to his spine during his sessions at Next Steps Chicago, a neurological rehabilitation clinic in Willow Springs. The device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December, with some experts hailing it as a milestone in therapy for people with spinal cord injuries. Next Steps is one of the first two clinics in the country offering it. 'It's pretty miraculous,' said Mary Jones, a physical therapist and director of operations at Next Steps Chicago. 'I spent my career working toward this and to see it come to fruition is nothing short of amazing.' Now, during Callahan's appointments at Next Steps, neuro-adaptive exercise specialist Creighton Goss attaches electrodes to the back of Callahan's neck along his cervical spine and then midway down his back, near his thoracic spine. Thin electrical cables connect the electrodes to the ARC-EX device, which delivers continuous electrical pulses throughout Callahan's appointment. The stimulation doesn't hurt, but 'It definitely wakes you up,' Callahan said with a smile. The ARC-EX is not the first device to deliver electrical stimulation through the skin to help people with spinal cord injuries. But unlike other commercially available devices, the ARC-EX delivers stimulation directly to the spine, rather than to other parts of the body that a person wishes to move, such as to an arm or a leg. The idea is to restore hand strength and sensation even when stimulation is no longer used. The device is supposed to be used for up to an hour a day, alongside therapy or training, to help improve hand strength and sensation for people with incomplete spinal cord injuries. About two-thirds of people with spinal cord injuries in the U.S. have incomplete injuries, meaning that though their movement may be extremely limited, their spinal cords have not completely lost the ability to transmit messages to and from the brain. 'Some instruction from the brain gets through but not enough to create a movement, so we're providing an amplification of that signal from the brain,' said Dave Marver, CEO of Onward Medical, the company that sells the device. Dr. Arun Jayaraman, executive director of the Technology & Innovation Hub at Chicago rehabilitation hospital Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, who is not involved with Next Steps, called the device 'an additional tool' that can be used to improve spinal cord signals to the limbs. He said it's the first device of its kind to be FDA-approved and available for everyday use by clinicians, rather than just for research purposes. The AbilityLab has an agreement to use the device for its research studies in stroke and other medical conditions later this year. The device's FDA approval is 'huge' for the spinal cord injury community, said Marco Baptista, chief scientific officer with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which helped support the device's development with an investment in Onward. Philanthropic venture fund SCI Ventures, which was co-founded by the foundation and other nonprofits, now holds that investment, and any revenue received from the investment will go toward supporting more research, Baptista said. 'One, this can be a device that can help people, and, two, it provides this path forward that other therapies can then follow,' Baptista said. Next Steps Chicago, a standalone nonprofit, helped test an earlier version of the device and has always felt it's important to bring cutting-edge technologies into the community, Jones said. 'This is a catastrophic lifelong condition,' Jones said of spinal cord injuries. 'To make somebody's life a little bit easier, to give them 10% improvement, that's a big deal for someone who hasn't moved their arm or is dependent on someone else for round-the-clock care.' The device costs clinics about $40,000, Marver said — not a small price tag, but also not the most expensive piece of equipment a clinic like Next Steps uses. In a study funded by Onward and published in May in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine, 72% of participants saw improved strength and function in their hands and arms after using the device. The FDA specifically approved the device to be used to improve hand sensation and strength. Improving hand function is a priority for many people with spinal cord injuries, Marver said, sometimes even more so than regaining the ability to walk. 'They need their hands to get through activities of daily living, to feed themselves, to clothe themselves, to go to the bathroom,' Marver said. 'These are all things that introduce independence, dignity, quality of life.' The device doesn't work for everyone, but so far Next Steps has seen about a dozen patients have positive results, including Callahan, Jones said. Though Callahan still has hand function, the device has helped with other areas of his body, Jones said. Callahan said he'd been a patient at Next Steps for about a year when Jones asked him if he wanted to try the ARC-EX device. 'She was explaining the research behind it and the possible benefits of using it, and it seemed it was applicable to my injury, so I thought why not,' Callahan said. Callahan uses a wheelchair and is paralyzed from the diaphragm down. After his accident, he spent about two months as an inpatient at AbilityLab and then another six months doing outpatient rehab with the AbilityLab. Now, he goes to Next Steps about three times a week, for two hours at a time, where he practices movement in the treatment gym. At a recent appointment, Goss had him kneel in front of a low table, which he used to brace himself, using his arms. Goss then slowly helped Callahan move his legs back and forth, an exercise designed to help him practice shifting weight from one leg to the other. Callahan isn't sure how much strength, movement or sensation he'll ever regain. Everyone and every injury is different. 'Nothing is guaranteed,' Callahan said, but he's trying to recover as much as he can. 'It would definitely improve my quality of life, not just for me, but for my family,' Callahan said of the prospect of regaining more function. 'We're hoping you walk in one day and say, 'Peace out, I'm done,'' Goss said. 'That would be the goal.' 'That would be the goal,' Callahan agreed.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Beloit's vacant Royce Elementary School converted into homeless housing
BELOIT, Wis. (WTVO) — On Thursday, Beloit's empty Royce Elementary School was turned into housing for the homeless. Next Steps, a program looking to capitalize on its name, is tackling homelessness in what it calls 'a new approach.' Program director Damonyka Roberts said, 'Next Steps is bringing one, them into a home, and two, bringing the services to them. That way they can focus on supporting themselves and building some self-sufficiency.' The initiative is part of the Next Steps Family Resilience Center, helping to house families by working with them to get them on their feet. 'Not only are we looking to house families and bringing those wraparound services to them, but we're also looking to be a preventative solution to multi-generational poverty,' Roberts said. 'So, that means we're not only working with the head of household, but we're also working with the children.' Kayla Oestreich, program director with Community Kids of Janesville, believes working with children is a key part of the mission, to break a systemic cycle of poverty. 'What we'll be doing is providing onsite child care for families who will be housed here, but also for the general public,' she said. Oestreich said they are not babysitting, but rather helping in early childhood development. 'We're looking at those base layer, foundational social-emotional skills and even just physical skills and fine motor skills and those types of needs first,' she explained. Roberts said the location was partially chosen because it was an old elementary school, located at 825 Liberty Avenue, but also, 'We wanted to bring ourselves to the community instead of consistently asking the community to come to us.' The Family Center will house its first two families starting May 1st, with the child care center opening April 7th. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
