St. Tammany News

Stroke patients in the Slidell area now have access to a state-of-the-art therapeutic machine to assist them in learning to walk again.

Called the Lokomat(r), the device was unveiled at Northshore Regional Medical Center on Wednesday. NSRMC is the only facility in Louisiana to have the machine and one of approximately 24 in the United States.

Slidell Mayor Ben Morris helps Northshore Regional Medical Center CEO Alan Cason cut the ribbon on the new Physical Medicine and Stroke Center. (Staff photos by Anne Lautzenheiser)

The Lokomat(r) is a motorized system of robotic legs, treadmill and harness that work together to help patients regain walking ability. It is just one of the advanced technologies featured at the newly designed Physical Medicine and Stroke Center at NSRMC.

The new inpatient facility offers full-service rehabilitation treatment for conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury, amputations and more. With 15 private rooms, a separate dining area and day room, and a transitional assisted daily living room, the Center is part of an ongoing $17.7 million expansion at the hospital.

"We are truly proud and honored to serve the community with this new facility," said Alan R. Cason, CEO at NSRMC.

Dr. Abdolreza Vadiee, medical director of the Rehabilitation Unit at NSRMC, praised the medical staff and directors for their efforts in opening the center.

"Local patients with complex medical problems had to go to New Orleans," he said. "Now they can stay right here in Slidell for rehabilitation. This new center is a true partnership between physicians and administrators."

Evelyn Snyder and Helen Brauner of Home Instead Senior Care, which provides non-medical care and assistance to the elderly, felt the new facility and its services would allow them to help their clients more effectively.

"This means a lot," Snyder said. "So many of the seniors are stroke patients or have hip fractures. If they can walk better when they get home they'll have more mobility, and that's so important."

It means a lot to the patients as well. Stroke patient Richard Kramer was one of the first to be treated using the new Lokomat(r), and could hardly use his left leg when he started. After only a week of therapy, his physical condition improved, and he began to regain motion.

"They got me walking again," Kramer said.

Now in home therapy after three weeks at the Center, Kramer is overwhelmed with gratitude for his treatment.

"I want to thank everyone, all the nurses, all the therapists," he said. "They were wonderful."