Three West Michigan healthcare leaders partner on ALS clinic in Heartside

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

This week, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Saint Mary’s Health Care, and the MSU College of Human Medicine announced that West Michigan’s first ALS Center is the first in the state to receive Muscular Dystrophy Association certification.

The $5 million facility opened in October in two locations: Mary Free Bed hospital in Grand Rapids and the campus of MSU in East Lansing.

ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Researchers have yet to find a cause or cure.

The partnership brings to the table MSU med school researchers, Mary Free Bed’s rehabilitation expertise, and Saint Mary’s neurosciences arm.

“Patients require a multidisciplinary team with speech pathologists, occupational therapists, social workers, doctors, physical therapists and others who understand the medical aspects and the social context of ALS,” says Dr. David Baumgartner, MD, of Saint Mary’s.

“ALS is a devastating and brutal illness with no cure and not very good specific treatments. We have treatments to support a patient, but we don’t have treatments that will stop the disease, so research that will offer new care and new hope is a key element of our process.”

ALS patients currently travel to Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, or Indianapolis for treatment, and the traveling can be grueling on them and their families.

The three organizations selected Dr. Baumgartner, Dr. John F. Butzer of Mary Free Bed, and Dr. David Kaufman of MSU to lead the team that created the clinic after two families of ALS patients approached the organizations with the idea of a local treatment center.

Source: Dr. David Baumgartner, Saint Mary’s Health Care

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.