Beginning in 1973, Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center served 531 individuals with spinal cord injuries in a model system of care. The experimental program ended in 1985 – and now the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center wants to see how those individuals are doing.

Individuals who entered the program between1973 through 1985 were part of a comprehensive system of care that encompassed emergency evacuation and treatment, acute care, rehabilitation, community reintegration, and long-term health care follow-up. The program was a result of the collaboration between St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, which provided the acute care, and Good Samaritan Hospital, which provided rehabilitation services.

The Follow-up Study will reach out to the patients from the Model System and attempt to keep in touch with them over the next five years.

Carolyn Mitchell, a social worker with St. Joseph’s Medical Center and a member of the Governor's Council on Spinal and Head Injuries, says, “The data from the follow-up study will aid research regarding health maintenance and current community living for people with spinal cord injury. Even the information about those who have passed away (63) or are otherwise ‘lost to the system’ will give us valuable insight into what it’s like to live with spinal cord injury.”

The data collection will take place as an interview, either in person or over the phone, and will focus on the individual’s lifestyle and care since he or she exited the Model System in 1985. “As a thank you for completing the follow-up interview, each participant will receive a gift card,” says Ms. Mitchell.

The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, based in at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will add this information to its database of over 33,000 people. Currently, this database represents the largest longitudinal medical database in the world. It is recognized internationally for its research possibilities and contributions to care and long term follow-up for individuals with spinal cord injury.

For more information, please contact:

Carolyn Mitchell, MSW
St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center
350 W. Thomas Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85013
Phone: 602-406-6148