October 25, 2006

The ALS Association Certifies Center of Excellence in Oregon

By Gary Wosk, Staff Writer

The recently certified Providence ALS Center is located at Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Ore.

“This is a special day in Oregon for people who are helped by The ALS Association and the Providence ALS Center,” said Gary A. Leo, the president and CEO of The Association of the newest of the Providence Brain Institute centers. “The certification is an affirmation that the Center more than deserves to be part of The Association’s national family of Centers as it is delivering the gold standard in care.”

The designation reflects The Association’s utmost confidence in the ability of the Center which emphasizes what patients can do and views them as “whole people” and its medical director, Kimberly Goslin, M.D., Ph.D., to provide quality health care and make that care accessible to people living with the disease.

Kimberly Goslin, M.D., Ph.D.,  is the medical director of the Providence ALS Center in Portland, Ore.

A cooperative effort between the Providence Brain Institute, The Association’s Oregon and SW Washington Chapter and The Oregon Clinic, the Center of Excellence is located at Providence Portland Medical Center. The Center received a community service award from the chapter for its work with patients diagnosed with ALS.

“The clinic is a dream come true for me, and one of the main reasons I started the Oregon and SW Washington Chapter of the ALS Association,” said Cindy Burdell, the executive director of the chapter. “We are thrilled that the clinic helps us to provide top notch services to our people with ALS. Thank you to Lance Christian and Kim Goslin and their staff for fulfilling my dream.”

Several members of the Center’s team have joined the chapter’s patient services committee and several members of the chapter regularly attend Center clinics, held three times a month.

"This clinic is an amazing partnership,” said Lance Christian, the patient services director for the chapter. “The ALS Association, Providence Health System, Dr. Kimberly Goslin and the Oregon Clinic all contribute resources, time and energy to the success of the Providence ALS Center. Working together we are all committed to helping people manage ALS.”

The certification of an ALS Center in Portland was a dream of many, including the late Steve White, who helped Burdell found the chapter. White, a member of the chapter’s board as the chair of the patient services committee, was a mentor to many people with ALS and, if he had lived, would have continued to enhance the close working relationship with the certified Center.

Cindy Burdell (middle), the executive director of The ALS Association’s Oregon and SW Washington Chapter, is flanked by Scott and Melissa Manos at at the chapter’s 2006 Go Big! Dinner/Auction Gala this past May. Melissa Manos is is a member of the chapter’s Gala Committee.

“This collaborative environment provides patients with a comprehensive evaluation and treatment plan designed to maximize function and quality of life,” said chapter President Lance Steinberg. “Our professional staff is very impressed with the clinicians and program at the Providence ALS Center.”

“We are extremely pleased to see the spirit of enthusiasm and cooperation between the Providence ALS Center and our chapter as they support the chapter’s efforts to develop first-class programs and serve the ALS community,” Steinberg continued.

Colin Portnuff, one of the more than 450 Oregonians with ALS, is always confident about the quality of care he receives when visiting the Center.

“I have been going to the Providence Portland ALS Center for about a year,” Portnuff said. “Dr. Goslin and her staff provide a wonderful, integrated team approach to managing my health. Seeing almost all of my providers in one afternoon is a great convenience for me, but more importantly, it is a comfort to me to have them take the responsibility of communicating their findings to each other at their staff meeting after each clinic. I don’t have to worry about who I remembered to tell what.”

“The first thing that struck me when I met Dr. Goslin was her upbeat approach. She is easy to talk to and compassionate but good-natured and always ready to laugh at my bad jokes,” Portnuff continued. “I love the fact that all of the staff have experience with ALS. A respiratory technologist or speech pathologist in a community hospital may work for years without seeing a dozen people with ALS. We have enough to deal with without having to educate our health care team.”

Goslin decided to focus on ALS early in her career when she worked with a 21-year-old man with familial ALS.

“I became very involved with him and his family and was drawn in to it to find out how much could be done to help these patients,” she said. “As we have seen, there is so much that can be done. There are many, many important ways to improve the quality of life and that is very rewarding.”

Goslin said her short-term goals for the Center include: “to continue to improve our expertise. We have continued plans to educate the providers in ALS and maximize their level of expertise and continue to get good people involved.”

Another goal is to expand the Center’s services to the entire state of Oregon, Western Idaho and Northern California.

The ALS Center Program sets the national standard for clinical care for people living with ALS and their family members. Centers of Excellence provide state-of-the-art, multi-disciplinary ALS care and services in a supportive, family-oriented atmosphere with emphasis on hope and quality of life while living with the disease.

Comprehensive care is delivered by ALS specialists: a neurologist, social workers, nurse, dietitian, occupational therapist, physical therapist, speech/language pathologist, respiratory therapist and augmentative communication specialist. Additional physicians specializing in issues that affect ALS patients are brought in to see the patients during clinic time as needed. 

The ALS Clinic at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., Wisconsin/Froedtert Hospital ALS Clinic in Milwaukee, Wis., and the ALS Clinic at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Wash., also have been certified by The Association this year.

Providence Portland Medical Center is part of the Providence Health System, the state’s largest health system and second largest private employer. Providence Portland is recognized for excellence in patient care and research in such areas as cancer, heart, orthopedics, women’s health, rehabilitation services and behavioral health and was recently selected as a “Top 100 Hospital” for cardiovascular care.