We spoke with Dr. Melinda Kavanaugh, clinical social worker and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, to understand more about young caregivers and the potential harms caused by the lack of quality of sleep they receive and what can we do about it.
Elizabeth Bradley lost her husband Woody to ALS, and has used his passing as inspiration to pursue a Master of Science in Psychology.
To complete her research project, she needs survey responses soon!
Investigators at Emory University School of Medicine reviewed 23 years of data from 1997-2020 for patients seen at the Emory ALS Center. To allow for adequate analysis of disease survival time, researchers included all patients who self-reported their race as Black or White and symptom onset was before January 1, 2017. A total of 1,298 patients were included in the study, 203 of whom were Black, and 1,095 of whom were White.
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.