Through word of mouth, Stuart and his wife Marcia found five or six families in their community who were also dealing with the impact of an ALS diagnosis. They started an informal support group. The group started working with the chapter relations team at The ALS Association and formed The ALS Association Alabama Chapter.

Often ALS takes away a person’s ability to swallow safely, and if so maintaining adequate nutrition can become a challenge for people living with ALS and their caregivers. And finding delicious family friendly recipes for all to enjoy during the holidays can be difficult.

You may know the old saying “ship shape.” In many ways, that old reference to order and fitness defined Yvette Wilson’s life. She joined the United States Navy immediately after high school and the discipline that experience gave her has shaped her life in many ways. Even after she left the Navy, she lived an orderly life, blessed with good health and a loving family in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

All signs pointed to a wonderful future, until one day she started experiencing a heaviness in her feet.

I am the legacy of Oscar Aukschun, who was a wood pattern maker and first generation American and a resident of Cleveland, Ohio who developed weakness of his hands and arms in 1943 around the age of 43 years. He was a hard-working father who provided for his wife and three children.

November 1st marks the beginning of National Family Caregivers Month, a time to recognize and honor the tremendous contributions of family caregivers. Caregiving for someone with ALS has a broad and lasting impact, in both daily life and long-term well-being.

The ALS Association collaborates with some of the best ALS physicians and clinics across the United States to help ensure that people living with ALS have access to the specialized care they need, based on best practices. Disrupted by the pandemic this year and the ability to see patients in person due to quarantines and safety issues, providing care in a clinic setting took on the challenges of major change, but ALS doesn’t stop and neither do we.

Navigating the world of health care, insurance, and especially Medicare, can be very complicated and overwhelming. Making the right decisions when it comes to healthcare and understanding all of your options is critical for everyone, but even more so for people living with ALS.

We spoke with Renée Hetzler, physical therapist at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s multidisciplinary ALS and Huntington Disease Clinics, who shared her thoughts and experiences with patients and insights about the importance of physical therapy for people living with ALS.

People with ALS and their caregivers face a substantial burden accessing and understanding insurance coverage and paying for medical treatments and services, causing high stress, added work burden and debt for the ALS community.

Increased access to telehealth has long been a priority for The ALS Association and its advocates, as many people living with the disease have difficulty traveling to multidisciplinary clinics. In fact, many of the policy changes the Association pursued long before the pandemic have been enacted in response to the COVID-19 public health crisis. It is now critical that we fight to make those changes permanent.

Social distancing measures put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic created a unique dilemma for chapter staff who teach caregivers how to use critical assistive living devices that enhance the quality of life for their loved ones living with ALS.

For people living with ALS, reduced physical mobility and the ability to communicate often cause “Smart” homes – in which household items become connected and are controllable with the use of technology – can greatly improve accessibility and be life-changing for people living with the disease.

A major benefit of providing long term telehealth care options to people with ALS is the decreased risk of exposure to other illnesses, in particular during this time of COVID19.

Emergencies and disasters can strike quickly and without warning. For the thousands of Americans living with ALS, emergencies such as fires, floods and acts of nature present a real challenge. June 1 marks the official start of hurricane season and with the coronavirus pandemic, it’s more important than ever to make sure you are prepared.

As states begin easing some of the stay-at-home orders put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, people who are high-risk of exposure to the coronavirus are still urged to remain safely at home and to take continued precautions to distance themselves from anyone who may have been exposed to the virus.

Social distancing and stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are upending many facets of daily life. In recognition of Occupational Therapy Month, we checked in on ways this critical piece of multidisciplinary care can continue during quarantine and innovative ways telehealth can be adopted by occupational therapists.

March 23, 2020 – We have received many questions about COVID-19 and its impact on people with ALS, their families, and their caregivers. We convened a panel of volunteers and staff to answer these questions – their bios are at the bottom. This situation is rapidly changing. We will update this FAQ as we receive more questions and more current information.

In response to congressional action, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified providers of a new option for expanded Medicare coverage for telehealth visits.  These changes temporarily remove originating site and geographic restrictions from coverage of telehealth under Medicare fee-for-service. 

Learning that you should consider a feeding tube can be overwhelming. It is a lot to take in, particularly in combination with the many medical issues that come with an ALS diagnosis. It is common for patients to be hesitant about it, but often, once they see the benefits of tube feeding, they often regret not making the decision sooner.

When the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs take the field for Super Bowl LIV, more than 100 million viewers are expected to tune in from homes, pubs and Super Bowl watch parties across the country. While the game itself is considered an iconic signature sports event for most Americans, many of us also identify this game with the smorgasbord of snacks that generally accompanies game watching. After all, a staggering 1.4 billion chicken wings are expected to be consumed during the big game this year, and the day is one of the biggest days for pizza sales every year.