Department of Neurology Reaches Out to Rural Arizona

Epilepsy outreach: David M. Labiner, M.D., Sherrie Keepers, 10, and KOLD TV anchor Mindy Blake discuss Camp Candlelight, a yearly summer camp for children and teens who have epilepsy.

Soon after Dr. Labiner joined the department in 1991, he was approached by physicians from Yuma Regional Medical Center who asked if he would establish an epilepsy clinic there. At the time, no neurologists practiced in the Yuma area and patients with epilepsy had to travel to Tucson - a four-hour drive -for diagnosis and treatment at University Medical Center (where Dr. Labiner is director of the Arizona Comprehensive Epilepsy Program). Dr. Labiner began conducting an epilepsy clinic one day a month at Yuma Regional Medical Center.

Today, Yuma has several neurologists. The UA epilepsy clinic is held every other month and the focus of the clinic has changed. "The clinic now is geared toward epilepsy cases that are difficult to treat and toward providing second opinions for neurological disease," says Dr. Labiner, who sees about 10 patients, ranging from children through adults, during each visit.

The Department of Neurology is committed to serving patient needs in other rural areas of Arizona, as well. Four times a year, Dr. Labiner travels to Flagstaff to conduct an epilepsy clinic he started at the invitation of a Flagstaff neurologist shortly after the Yuma clinic was established. Dr. Labiner also conducts an epilepsy clinic in Chinle, on the Navajo Indian Reservation, and efforts are being made to expand the department's outreach services to other Native American populations.

The outreach clinics established by the Department of Neurology to meet the needs of underserved areas of Arizona also fulfill theUA College of Medicine's commitment to Arizona to be a statewide resource in research, teaching and patient care.