Education is Our Mission,
Education is the Answer.
Epilepsy is the
most common
neurological disease in children
Hundreds of thousands of children visit a hospital emergency room each year because of undiagnosed or uncontrolled epilepsy. For many the ER is their only option as there is a nationwide shortage of qualified child neurologists and pediatric epilepsy specialists. Many other children receive treatment for their epilepsy from a primary care doctor while awaiting an appointment with a neurologist. The wait will be long for most and many people living with epilepsy will never see an epileptologist (a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy).
The demand for child neurologists is 20% higher than the supply of doctors and demand is increasing every year. Child neurologists are so scarce that there are vast areas of the United States that have no child neurologists at all. If a doctor can be found wait times for appointments are more than a month and often it is difficult if not impossible for a parent to take time off work and travel the distance to get to an appointment. The vast majority of pediatricians believed their patients suffer due to these long wait times and most primary care providers do not feel comfortable evaluating and treating children with seizures without a consult from a child neurologist.
What can we do to address these shortages?
How can we help primary care doctors feel more comfortable treating patients with epilepsy?
Education is the answer and education is Brainworks’ mission.
Brainworks Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2008 by Dr. Deborah Holder to provide epilepsy education to patients, families and medical providers to help improve the lives of those living with epilepsy.
We offer educational symposiums, both in person and virtual.
We discuss many topics of interest to both epilepsy patients and their doctors.
We discuss the newest research and developments in the field of Epilepsy
We add new topics every year to keep up with attendee and provider requests.
Symposiums are free of charge for patients and families and we offer affordable continuing medical education events for medical professionals.