The Medical College of Georgia Comprehensive Epilepsy Program is not a very glamorous name for an effort that has given hope and healing to thousands of people. But the staff at this Level 4 Center in Augusta - which has the highest rating given to facilities that offer the broadest range of complex medical and surgical treatments for the disease - are too busy to worry about the name.

According to the Epilepsy Foundation, epilepsy and seizures affect 2.7 million Americans, with approximately 200,000 new cases diagnosed annually.

Medication is able to control seizures in about 80 percent of patients. But when medications and other treatments fail, patients go to Level 4 centers, like the MCG Epilepsy Center.

"We see the patients with intractable seizures, ones who have been seizing for years, who have tried other therapies, maybe even surgery," said Dr. Ki Lee, director of the center. "We hope that fresh eyes and new technology can effect a cure. Our goal is for our patients to be seizure-free - nothing less than that."

The staff at the MCG Epilepsy Center comprises highly trained neurologists, neurosurgeons, nurses and allied health specialists.

Lee spent 12 years' training to become an epileptologist. Two of the surgeons have 40 years experience between them in using sophisticated testing methods to locate the epilepsy focus in the brain and then end seizures.

Clinical trials and research of new therapies are ongoing. Lee's research focus is noninvasive testing methods like magneto-encephalography imaging (MEG), a highly accurate imaging device that no health facility in Georgia owns. Lee must send patients to the University of Alabama for the test.

"We're still learning from patients. There's always some new thing to learn about the human brain. It makes you humble," Lee said.

Besides medical treatment, patients in Augusta find empathy and understandunderstanding for the burden that epilepsy puts on them and their families.

"It takes patience to be an epilepsy nurse," said Kim Jaeger, RN, BSN. "Even though we've seen just about every
seizure disorder, we take the time to let the family tell their story. Part of our job is to serve as a social support system, to educate families and patients."

Those with no experience with the disease have no idea the toll it can take on a family.

"Parents of a child with epilepsy have to account for every minute of a child's day," said Pam Culberson-Brown, RN,
MSN, clinical nurse specialist. "There has to be medication and a backup plan for getting to school, during school, getting home, vacations. No one understands how difficult daily life can be, which is why we take education programs to
the community and the school system."

You can read more about the work of this center this month, as well as about other pioneering programs that address some of today's most pressing health care problems: safely moving patients in hospitals, helping patients through horticulture and training nurse practitioners to work in overcrowded emergency rooms.

The "can do" spirit is alive and well among Georgia's health care providers.