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Ali Bateman
Ali Bateman, MD
Assistant Professor, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
Key Areas of Focus:
Acquired and Traumatic Brain Injury; Spinal Cord Injury
Phone:
519-685-4080
Accepting Grad Students:
No
About:
Dr. Ali Bateman is a physiatrist at Parkwood Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University. She is also an Associate Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, and the Quality Improvement Lead in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.
Dr. Bateman completed her medical degree and residency training at Western University, and is currently completing a master’s degree in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety through the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She is also certified by the Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists and holds the designation of CSCN Diplomate (EMG). As a consultant physiatrist, Dr. Bateman provides care in acquired brain injury and spinal cord injury rehabilitation programs and the electrodiagnostic laboratory at Parkwood Institute.
Her research interests centre on quality improvement, patient safety, and knowledge translation with the aim of achieving best practices so that all persons with spinal cord and/or brain injury receive the best quality care.
Caitlin Cassidy
Caitlin Cassidy, MD
Assistant Professor, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
Key Areas of Focus:
Childhood Onset Conditions; Implementation Science and Education
Phone:
519-685-4292 ext. 45027
Email:
Publications:
Accepting Grad Students:
Yes
About:
Dr. Caitlin Cassidy is a physiatrist at Parkwood Institute and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and is also cross appointed to the Department of Paediatrics. Her primary clinical and research roles revolve around the Transitional and Lifelong Care (TLC) program at Parkwood Institute. The TLC program provides longitudinal rehabilitative care to adolescents and adults living with a physical disability of childhood onset, many of whom experience mobility challenges and may struggle to find accessible opportunities to increase their fitness and activity levels.
Dr. Cassidy’s research interests include the natural history and long-term outcomes of people with these conditions, and collaborates closely with Dr. Laura Brunton from the School of Physical Therapy at Western University to determine the impacts that access to activity and wellness programming have on pain, fatigue and other outcomes for people with cerebral palsy and spina bifida. Dr. Cassidy also acts as the discipline lead for Musculoskeletal Medicine in undergraduate medical education at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University.
Changing lives through innovation
It started like any other day. Paul Garrett could never have imagined that by the end of the day, he would be paralyzed from the waist down.
On May 25, 2019, Paul was making coffee before another day’s work as an appliance installer when he noticed a slight tingling in the toes of his right foot. Being fairly fit and in his early sixties, he didn’t think much of it – until the numbness got worse, moving up to the base of his spine and down the other leg. Within 30 minutes of the initial sensation, he lost all feeling and function in his legs.
Paul was rushed to the nearest emergency department. For some reason, he knew his life had changed forever. He assumed he was suffering from a stroke.
“Before the ambulance arrived, it was terrifying and emotional. I had this feeling I would never walk again.”
"... Nothing was working when I got to Parkwood Institute."
It wasn’t a stroke but Paul was right about the life-altering ramifications. After days of testing, he was diagnosed with acute onset transverse myelitis, a rare neuroimmune disorder where inflammation damages the insulating material (myelin) covering the nerves along the spine. Without this protective coating, signals from the brain to the spine and back cannot occur.
Paul came to St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Rehabilitation Program at Parkwood Institute, where his care team partnered with him and wife Brenda to develop a recovery plan.
“They started from scratch with me, nothing was working when I got to Parkwood Institute,” says Paul.
When occupational therapist Charlie Giurleo asked Paul and Brenda what their initial goals for rehabilitation were, they were quick to answer. Paul wanted to get to his son’s wedding, just a month away. The team, and
Paul, got to work, focusing treatments and exercises on learning how to get out of bed, transfer from the wheelchair to the car, and stand independently.
"... We were able to move on and adapt, thanks to the team..."
“I made it to the wedding, and I was even able to stand for a few pictures with my family. It was amazing.”
Then it was time to set longer term goals for his recovery and Paul knew exactly what he wanted, “I wanted to walk out of the building on my own.”
While the physical recovery was a significant hurdle for the Garretts, so was the emotional recovery.
“The SCI Rehabilitation Program team gave us wonderful support and information on how to live with a spinal cord injury,” says Brenda. “There was a lot of grief in the beginning for a life that was profoundly changed and would never be the same again, but we were able to move on and adapt thanks to the team at Parkwood Institute who were so positive and empowering.”
Emboldened by his care team, Paul was able to remain upbeat. Each time he met a new health care provider, he would tell them, ‘You’re on Team Paul now,’ as he held up his hand for a fist bump.”
Getting stronger
With the support of Team Paul, including his wife, a determined Paul worked on his walking one day at a time. “The team said to me, to go quicker is to go slower… to remain focused every day and get a little bit stronger.”
Paul was fortunate to have access to specialized rehabilitation equipment and expertise of members of St. Joseph’s Gray Centre for Mobility and Activity as part of his treatment.
“The equipment and the expertise in The Gray Centre were instrumental in Paul’s recovery.”
The Gray Centre is focused on expanding and advancing mobility and rehabilitation treatment and prevention solutions through research and collaborations between scientists and health care providers using the latest technology and innovations.
“Current patients of St. Joseph’s rehabilitation programs are already benefiting from The Gray Centre,” says physiotherapist Stephanie Cornell. Stephanie was a big part of Team Paul, supporting his rehabilitation plan and treatment.
“The equipment and the expertise in The Gray Centre were instrumental in Paul’s recovery,” says Stephanie. “Utilizing technology such as the body weight support treadmill, we were able to help Paul relearn a walking pattern and get back to being more active in his community.”
All of Paul’s hard work paid off. After his last rehabilitations session he met his goal and walked out of the building on his own. Members of Team Paul lined his pathway out to cheer him on and mark the momentous occasion.
Dalton L. Wolfe
Dalton L. Wolfe, PhD
Lawson Scientist, Parkwood Institute Research
Key Areas of Focus:
Implementation Science and Education; Spinal Cord Injury
Phone:
519-685-4292 ext. 42957
Email:
Accepting Grad Students:
Yes
About:
Dalton Wolfe is a Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Science and leads the Research 2 Practice (R2P) team, which is a unique research program within Parkwood Institute that focuses on strategies for generating evidence and implementing best practice within rehabilitation. Professor Wolfe’s primary research interest is in the area of knowledge mobilization and best practice implementation with a focus on physical activity and activity-based therapies in spinal cord injury and brain injury rehabilitation.
Professor Wolf also co-leads the Ontario SCI Implementation, Evaluation and Quality Care Consortium, which focuses on implementation of quality indicators towards the enhancement of care across the 5 academic health centres involved in SCI rehabilitation in Ontario. As part of the Parkwood Rehabilitation Innovations in Mobility Enhancement initiative (PRIME), Professor Wolfe is focused on enhancing clinical decision-making to improve locomotor and other movement-related outcomes with activity-based therapies such as robotic, manual and FES-assisted therapies. As with many of the R2P initiatives this involves implementation science and participatory research methods to put in place practice-based research infrastructure that enables iterative knowledge generation as well as implementation. Trainees work alongside clinicians, administrators and persons with lived experience to tackle clinically relevant questions.
Eldon Loh
Eldon Loh , MD
Associate Professor, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
Key Areas of Focus:
Chronic Pain
Phone:
519-685-4292 ext. 44080
Email:
Publications:
Accepting Grad Students:
No
About:
Dr. Eldon Loh is a Physiatrist at Parkwood Institute and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University. He completed residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Alberta in 2010 and a clinical fellowship in interventional pain management in 2011. His research interests include improving the management of chronic neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury, and the development of novel and improved techniques for interventional pain management of axial spine pain.
He is Chair of the panel that developed and updates the Canadian Best Practice Guidelines for Neuropathic Pain after spinal cord injury and works with international partners to improve point-of-care tools for implementing the guidelines. His interventional pain research focuses heavily on a bench to bedside approach, utilizing anatomical findings to inform clinical practice. He has also examined the impact of Ontario’s healthcare utilization of different interventional procedures such as radiofrequency ablation and paravertebral nerve blocks.
