The University of Louisville Physicians clinic that serves patients with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is getting a national designation and a financial boost.The ALS Association has designated the facility a "Recognized Treatment Clinic," meaning it has undergone a vigorous review by the association and its board, according to a UofL Physicians news release. Clinic director Dr. Martin Brown said it opens the door for new opportunities in research, clinical trials and therapies.“I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot more patients, which is fine. A lot of the patients in the community have been traveling to Lexington or Indianapolis," Brown said.Some patients have been traveling away from the Louisville clinic because there has been a lack of communicating the clinic exists. The clinic is also getting two donations of $10,000 each. One is from the Kentucky chapter of the ALS Association, the other is from UofL President James Ramsey, whose mother-in-law died from ALS.“We’ve been doing things low budget for awhile, so it is nice to have that available," Brown said. "Most likely that is going to be to start some type of research to figure out the cause, or the way it spreads or some type of treatment to slow it down."Brown said he wants to use the money to become part of a trial group named northeast ALS consortium. He said the nationwide group offers pilot trials to find a cure for ALS. Brown said the remainder of the money will be used to purchase a wheelchair scale for the clinic.Brown said that the clinic, located in the Frazier Rehab Institute, has been able to offer different therapies, such as speech, swallowing, and physical therapy, but has not been able to offer everything for his patients.“We haven’t been able to offer our patients of some type of cure,” Brown said. “That's the next step to get a clinical trial here that seems to show some hope for slowing this disease down.”He said that he wants to try and bring that to the clinic in the next year for patients.
