CARMEL – January 23, 2008, St.Vincent Carmel Hospital unveiled its new multidisciplinary Headache Center for patients across Indiana. The St.Vincent Headache Center will be the only dedicated Headache Center in Indiana.
The new 2,000-square foot Headache Center, located on the first floor of St.Vincent Carmel Hospital, will provide multi-level treatment options for headache and migraine sufferers. The comprehensive center will also treat pains throughout the neck and face.
"Our focus is to deliver the highest quality of care for all migraine and headache sufferers," said Edward Zdobylak, MD, a neurologist and medical director of the Headache Center. "Because there is no specific diagnostic imaging or testing for headaches, we will remain committed to listening to our patients, so we can appropriately pinpoint and treat their pain. Our patient-centered philosophy will include spending compassionate time and providing counsel to each and every patient who enters our suite."
Nationally, migraine is a disorder that affects more than 28 million people or one out of every 10 people. In Indiana, approximately 400,000 people suffer from migraines, and less than half of those individuals have actually visited a physician for treatment.
The St.Vincent Headache Center will address the headache pain population by serving as a narcotics-free clinic, where the highly-specialized staff will offer a specific multidisciplinary approach to analyzing and treating headache pain. Dr. Zdobylak and a team of sleep specialists, therapists, dieticians and psychologists will implement a three-phase approach consisting of prevention, abortive and rescue methods.
Each specific method is aimed at investigating and treating the causes and triggers of the pain, without the use of narcotics.
The prevention method will focus on identifying medications to alleviate the pain, or preventing the headache by eliminating certain triggers such as caffeine and stress. Abortive techniques will be applied with migraine-specific medications or non-medicine routes to relieve pain. The rescue method allows refractory patients or those experiencing headache pains with severe disability to visit the Headache Center for specific injections.
The new suite encompasses a warm environment with a strong emphasis of earth tones, dim lighting and soft, soothing classical music to prevent the chance of triggering migraines. A spacious lobby and three relaxing consultation rooms are designed to increase patients' experience at the Headache Center.
St.Vincent Headache Center is open on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and prospective patients can schedule a consultation by calling (317) 582-8270.
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St.Vincent Health
St.Vincent Health is a nonprofit, spiritually-centered health care system, sponsored by Ascension Health of St. Louis, Missouri, the nation’s largest Catholic health system. St.Vincent Health is Indiana’s largest healthcare employer with 17 health ministries serving 45 counties in central Indiana. The St.Vincent Health ministry includes St.Vincent Indianapolis Hospital; Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St.Vincent; St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana; St. Joseph Hospital in Kokomo; Saint John’s Health System in Anderson; St.Vincent Carmel Hospital; St.Vincent Women’s Hospital; St.Vincent Clay Hospital in Brazil; St.Vincent Frankfort Hospital; St.Vincent Jennings Hospital in North Vernon; St.Vincent Mercy Hospital in Elwood; St.Vincent New Hope; St.Vincent Randolph Hospital in Winchester; St.Vincent Stress Center; St.Vincent Williamsport Hospital; and St.Vincent Seton Specialty Hospital.
