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Epilepsy Art Contest Announced

Art can provide an escape from the day-to-day experiences of living with any disease or illness. It also offers a way for people to express how they feel about hope strength, courage and freedom.

Now, people with epilepsy can show their creative talents by participating in the 2008 Expressions of Courage Art Contest. The contest is sponsored by Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, with anyone diagnosed with epilepsy eligible to submit artwork for the contest.

Artwork may be done in ink, pencil, crayon, or paint on paper or board. Participants must complete the contest entry form and submit it with their artwork. Deadline for submission of artwork is July 16, 2008. For full information on the contest, and to download the entry form, please go to www.expressionsofcourage.com

Medicare Information for Persons With Epilepsy

The new changes to the Medicare prescription drug program can present some very difficult decision for persons with epilepsy. Medications play a key role in managing and controlling seizures so choosing the best plan for your particular situation is vital.

We are pleased to announce a new resource, www.epilepsyadvocate.com, to assist you in making this important decision. Its' interactive features allow you to enter your individual needs and then find a plan that best suits you from a menu of appropriate plans to choose from.

The site also offers excellent information for daily living when you have epilepsy.www.epilepsyadvocate.com is made possible by UCB,Inc. the epilepsy company.

New Educational Resource Now Available

We are pleased to announce the establishment of an exciting, new educational resource for school nurses, teachers and parents of children with a seizure disorder.

You can now go to the website www.epilepsyclassroom.com to find a wide range of helpful information designed to improve the quality of education for your child or a student you might teach in your class. The site includes a glossary of terms related to epilepsy, easy to understand descriptions of the various types of seizures, first aid information and lesson plans appropriate to different grade levels to teach a child’s peers about the disorder. Numerous forms that can be used by both family members and school personnel to plan for a child’s specific educational needs can also be downloaded from this site.

Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation Awards Grant

The Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation (GBHCMF) has a long history of serving the physical and spiritual needs of the community. It accomplishes these goals through investments in community organizations that provide or strengthen health care. Programs funded by GBHCF endorse themes of self help, independence and individual responsibility. GBHCMF feels that a “healthy community” offers its residents access to a good education, quality medical and spiritual services, a safe environment and an efficient and trustworthy local government.

We are very pleased to announce that GBHCMF has chosen to team up with the Epilepsy Foundation of Georgia through the awarding of a $50,000 grant. The grant has two purposes: 1) To strengthen the funding of the Georgia Affiliate’s Emergency Medical Fund, which provides emergency assistance in obtaining seizure medication for persons with no insurance or limited financial resources. 2) To offer community education classes (Body, Mind and Spirit) for persons with epilepsy and their families/caregivers. These classes will provide medical information on seizures as well as introduce skill building techniques for dealing with the emotions involved in having epilepsy.

The Epilepsy Foundation feels very blessed to have GBHCMF as a partner in our mission to improve the quality of life for Georgians with epilepsy and their families.

Epilepsy Drug Statement

We at the Epilepsy Foundation feel that the recent announcement linking suicidal thoughts with antiepileptic drugs should not cause anyone to become frightened about taking their medications. Reacting to this FDA warning by abruptly stopping an antiepileptic medication could be very dangerous and is better handled by calling your doctor to discuss any concerns.

Individuals taking antiepileptic medications can feel reassured by a number of factors. Since depression is very common in epilepsy, we don't know for sure if some individuals had suicidal thoughts that were not in fact caused by the medications. We need to get much more information about how these statistics were derived. Even if medications do raise the risk, this risk is very low. The risk of developing this problem after long-term use of a drug is probably especially low if a person has been feeling fine up until now.

The Epilepsy Foundation has always supported the idea that health care providers need to spend time looking for and talking about depression with their epilepsy patients. We hope that the main impact of the recent FDA announcement will be to reinforce the value of good communication between patients and their health care providers.