Seattle specialist pays back' hometown Anchorage by returning to help Alaska patients
http://www.adn.com/life/story/671008p-713525c.html
Published: August 28, 2001
At 24, Becky McGuire wanted to find
out what she could expect as a person living with multiple sclerosis.
Alaska doesn't have any doctors who
specialize in the neurological disorder, so the Eagle River resident flew
to Seattle to visit Dr. Craig Smith. Smith, a neurologist who runs an MS
clinic at Swedish Medical Center, was the man to see, people told her.
McGuire watched as Smith drew a picture
of what the disease was doing inside her body.
"I started crying afterward," she
said. It all made sense now.
"He told me more in one hour than
three doctors had told me in three years," McGuire said.
McGuire doesn't have to fly to see
Smith anymore. Now he flies to see her.
Since July, Smith has come to Anchorage
one day a month to provide a free clinic for Alaska residents with MS.
He will be seeing patients in Anchorage on Friday.
Smith had been caring for dozens
of Alaskans in his Seattle office, so he felt certain that there must be
more people here who weren't getting the care they needed. Vickie Dodge-Pamplin,
director of the state's MS clinic, said the state has one of the highest
rates of the disease and at least 1,000 residents with MS. Smith said there
are more Alaskans who have yet to be diagnosed.
Alaska has the technology to diagnose
the disease, but it lacks the doctors who work with MS patients every day.
Alaska has only a handful of neurologists; not enough to care for all the
neurological problems in the area and meet the needs of MS patients as
well. Until now, if Alaska patients wanted specialized care, they had to
fly Outside for help.
Smith said his free clinic is one
way to improve services to those patients. It's also a way for him to give
back to Anchorage, where he grew up years ago.
HIGH RATES
MS affects more than 300,000 people
nationwide, according to reports from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The disease is not contagious and not considered fatal. Women are twice
as likely to develop MS. Most diagnoses come between the ages of 20 and
50.
People like McGuire can struggle
to get an accurate diagnosis because early symptoms can indicate a number
of potential health problems. Symptoms vary, including blurred vision,
loss of balance, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, fatigue, paralysis
or blindness. Sometimes symptoms come and go; other times they're permanent.
McGuire started with double vision
and fatigue. She remembered trying to climb Flattop Mountain with friends.
"I was just sitting there, panting
at the bottom saying, You guys go ahead. I'll wait here,' " she said. "We
just thought I was really out of shape."
It didn't make sense to a girl who
used to play on softball teams.
McGuire's disease was misdiagnosed
at first, but later an eye exam and magnetic resonance imaging revealed
its true nature. Her symptoms worsened. She slurred her speech when talking
to customers at work. She'd tip over if she wasn't leaning against a wall.
Then she lost her ability to walk. Today she uses a wheelchair to get around.
Alaska sees many more cases of MS
per capita than other places. Smith said some people have a genetic makeup
that makes them more susceptible to the disease than others. The theory
is that an outside intruder, like a bacteria or virus, triggers this genetic
makeup, causing MS, he said.
MS is rare among the Eskimo population
and more likely to be seen in people of Northern European descent. The
higher the latitude, the higher the incidence of MS, Smith said.
The MS rate for Florida and the southern
part of the country is about 10 per 100,000 people. The Seattle and Spokane
area has a much higher rate of 100-130 per 100,000 people. Though the lack
of a full-time MS specialist makes it hard to nail down, Alaska's rate
is probably comparable to Washington's, Smith said. Alaskans typically
are of Northern European descent. They come from northern states and live
in a northern latitude -- all factors linked to a higher incidence of the
disease, said Smith and Dodge-Pamplin.
NEW OPTIONS
For at least the next year, Smith
will donate his services to Alaska patients and charge them nothing for
the visit. He's able to do this through grant money he received from several
pharmaceutical companies.
Smith conducts his monthly clinic
in the office of Anchorage neurologist Marjorie Smith, who's not related
to Craig. Marjorie's office is located on the Alaska Regional Hospital
campus. Smith eventually will move the clinic to Providence Alaska Medical
Center where he'll have more space. All patients must be referred by a
doctor to attend the clinic.
Smith said he'd like to expand the
clinic from one to two days every month. He wants to start a rotation of
physicians, bringing up other specialists from the Washington area to see
patients in Anchorage. In time, he'd also like to be able to increase the
number of patients he can see during a visit.
There are still no cures for MS,
but new treatments allow Smith to help patients slow down the course of
the disease. Drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can
lessen the frequency of symptoms or relapses. McGuire said she hopes her
treatment will eventually allow her to get rid of the wheelchair and run
her family's business some day.
The free clinic gives patients like
McGuire more options -- like making clinical trials available to Alaskans
who want more help. Just months after the clinic began, patients from Anchorage
to Fairbanks to the Kenai Peninsula are calling Dodge-Pamplin to find out
more. She's already scheduling appointments for Smith's November visit.
"We hope to one day have a permanent
clinic," she said. "And it's looking like we're going to need one."
For more information about the clinic,
call Dodge-Pamplin at 929-2567 or 1-877-929-2567. The clinic will have
a Web site soon at www.alaskamscenter.org.
Reporter Ann Potempa can be reached
at apotempa@adn.com or 907-257-4581.
Copyright © 2001 The Anchorage
Daily News
By Ann Potempa
Anchorage Daily News