Head of Department
Dr. Alois Ebner
Bethel
Maraweg 21
33617 Bielefeld
phone 0049 | (0)521 | 772-78870
fax 0049 | (0)521 | 772-78872
E-mail Epilepsie@mara.de
 |
|
Content
Introduction - The Epilepsy Clinic
Range of Services
Treatment Programmes
Children´s Department
Adult Department
Epilepsy Surgery
Medical Rehabilitation
Guide to Bielefeld-Bethel
Roadmap
Introduction - The Epilepsy Clinic
Each year approximately 4.000 persons from all parts of Germany and abroad seek help at the Epilepsy Clinic of Mara Hospital gGmbH. Appointments are arranged either by patients with seizure disorders or through referrals from physicians. The epilepsy clinic provides various services to patients, such as answering questions about treatment with medication, assessment of possible surgery, and behavioural training or other types of psychotherapy-based procedures. The clinic also provides support to patients in dealing with and overcoming their disorder and work-related, school-related or other social difficulties caused by their epilepsy
A multidisciplinary team consisting of various professionals, i.e., physicians, nurses, medical technical assistants, social workers, psychologists, teachers, psychological counsellors and work therapists, work closely together at the Epilepsy Clinic to provide comprehensive care to patients.
Physicians at Mara may treat patients on an inpatient or outpatient basis
- The epilepsy outpatient team serves a large, supra-regional area. It is responsible for diagnosing and treating children and adults with seizure disorders that are difficult to treat and for counselling patients on issues of a special diagnostic or socio-medical nature.
- Inpatient treatment is provided to both children and adults.
Examinations
Examinations aim at diagnosing the seizure and the conditions that trigger it. Examinations cover the following areas:
- Detailed patient admission history including past and present illness, description of the course of seizures and of treatments applied thus far
- In paediatric cases, we discuss the course of the child’s development, the situation in the family, at school or at the day-care centre
- In adult cases, we discuss the impact of epilepsy on training and occupation and on independence and partnership
- Clinical monitoring of seizures
- Testing for the level of antiepileptic medication in the blood
- Neuro-psychological assessment
- EEG and continuous video EEG
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Positron Emissions Tomography (PET) and Photon Emissions Tomography (SPECT)
- Preoperative video EEG diagnostics (with invasive and intra-operative methods)
- Treatment
- Our aim is to classify seizures via precise observation and special examinations and to establish and execute the best possible treatment strategy derived from our findings.
- The results of medical examinations, which are discussed in detail with patients and their next of kin, determine which of the various possible treatments are best suited for the patient.
- Treatment with medications
- Surgical treatment (epilepsy surgery)
- Psychotherapy treatment
- Assistance with social and occupational difficulties, counselling for special burdens within the family and for child raising problems in conjunction with epilepsy
- Work therapy and physiotherapy
- School and preschool day-care assistance for children
- MOSES® and FAMOSES (currently being prepared) patient educational programmes.
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation
- Biofeedback/seizure interruption training
- Psychological counselling
The Children’s Department offers a comprehensive treatment plan for children and adolescents with various types of epilepsy. Aspects of a medical and social psychological nature are integrated into treatment plans. Diagnosis and treatment are performed in accordance with the latest state of the art in clinical and technical developments and findings. Medical treatment is augmented by aids that are offered to children and parents to overcome the disorder. Medical diagnostics and treatment form the focal point of these aids. The benefits and compatibility of medication-based treatments are examined carefully.
Treatment plans also include the close cooperation of multidisciplinary teams with parents and the child to organize the day in a manner that most closely matches the child’s actual daily living routine. Parents and children receive support in processing and overcoming the disease. Support includes: information on epilepsy, counselling on opportunities, learning how to live with seizures and disabilities and helping the child to develop a satisfactory self image.
Children and adolescents in the Children’s Department are accommodated in 2 to 4 bed rooms. Accompanying persons can, on request, be accommodated in the patient’s room or in separate parent rooms. Special audio-visual monitoring can be installed in each patient room, if required.
DothanSchool & Preschool Day-Care Centre (Kindergarten)
Children or adolescents who are undergoing longer-term treatment attend the clinic’s own school or day-care centre (Kindergarten).
The Adult Department is subdivided into wards with various specialized services, i.e.:
- A short-term ward with specialization in extensive diagnostics both functional and structural for defining the epilepsy syndrome and conceptualizing the first procedure
- Wards for comprehensive epilepsy treatment with focus on rational pharmacotherapy
- Wards for the admission of patients requiring special nursing care and patients with multiple disabilities,
- A ward for young adults with social and occupational problems in conjunction with epilepsy,
- A ward for psychotherapy treatment of persons with epilepsy and/or non-epileptic seizures and emotional difficulties.
- A hospital stay can last from a few days to several months depending on whether cases pertain to emergencies, diagnostic procedures or the difficult process of changing to a new form of therapy. Nurses accompany the patient from the date of admission to the date of discharge. They provide comprehensive care to patients, meet their needs and ensure that the treatment plan is implemented.
Diagnostics and surgical treatment
If treatment with medication fails to show adequate success, then the question arises as to whether surgery can help, especially in instances when seizures emanate from a localized region in the brain (focal epilepsy). First patients are diagnosed with (non-invasive) long-term (extended) EEG-video-monitoring. Most often the focus for surgery can be clearly identified. Very few patients need invasive monitoring, where electrodes are implanted. The clinic has multidisciplinary teams for children and for adults. Each team consists of neurologists, neuro-psychologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, rehabilitation specialists, social workers, chaplains and nursing personnel. They provide the necessary information regarding surgical intervention and support patients after the operation so that they achieve optimum adjustment to their new situation.
Children and adults are treated together in the Department of Intensive Diagnostics and Epilepsy Surgery.
Many epilepsy patients require medical rehabilitation measures to ensure the optimum outcome during treatment, to learn how to adequately handle and ease the emotional, neuropsychological and social consequences of their disorder.
Our assistance and treatment plans include various services, such as:
- Epilepsy treatment
- Aids for improving the illness
- An epilepsy information pack, MOSES® patient educational programme
- Learning living habits adapted to epilepsy & illness self-management
- Neuro-psychological assessment and treatment
- Reviewing and improving the patient’s ability to deal with occupational stress
- Evaluating the seizure-based illness in terms of social medicine and occupational medicine
- Job application training & learning how to talk about epilepsy
- Social and occupational counselling
- Family counselling
A cafeteria for visitors and patients is located in the building. A restaurant and various shopping opportunities are located in the clinics’ immediate vicinity.
By train:
From the central railway station by tram line 1 (tramstation "Hauptbahnhof" behind the "Hotel Mövenpick") in the direction "Senne", 5th stop "Bethel", then on foot for about 300 m via "Königsweg" to the centre of Bethel.
By car:
Motorway (Autobahn A 2) from Köln/Dortmund:
Exit "Bielefeld/Sennestadt" turn left n to the B 68 (Brackweder Straße), in the direction of Bielefeld, look for signposts "Bethel".
Motorway (Autobahn A 2) from Hannover:
Exit "Bielefeld Zentrum" turn right on to the B 66 (Detmolder Straße/Kreuzstraße), in the direction of "Halle". At "Adenauerplatz" turn left, look for signposts "Bethel".
Motorway (Autobahn A44/A 33) from Kassel/Paderborn:
Motorway intersection Bielefeld (A33/A2) in the direction of Hannover, exit "Bielefeld/Sennestadt" turn left on to the B 68 (Brackweder Straße), in the direction of Bielefeld, look for signposts "Bethel".
Parking opportunities in the basement of Ophir, (enter from "Handwerkerstraße") and around Nazareth/Assapheum.
