Advanced Pediatrics Accepts
the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
There is much excitement at Advanced Pediatrics, as the staff will drop a bucket of icy cold water onto the providers.
Tune in to our Facebook page at Advanced Pediatrics, #APIceBucket, and enjoy the sight of Sue, Samantha, and Lavonda, dumping the ice on Dr. Lavin, Dr. Hertzer, and Nurse Kelley.
When the Challenge is met, the Advanced Pediatrics team will be calling out to our friends and colleagues, Dr. Laura and staff, and Dr. Laura Adelman's dental office.
Beyond the fun, we also thought it would be good for everyone to know what ALS is and what the Ice Bucket Challenge achieves.
ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, since the great baseball player, Lou Gehrig had ALS.
At the heart of ALS is the destruction of nerves that control the movement of muscles of the body. The normal way a muscle moves in the body is that a nerve from the brain signals a nerve from the spinal cord to make the muscle contract. The nerve from the brain is called an upper motor neuron, the nerve from the spinal cord to the muscle is called a lower muscle neuron. In ALS material accumulates in both upper and lower motor neurons, leading to their death. Once enough of these nerves die, their muscles stop moving.
This leads to trouble walking, swallowing, and eventually all muscle movements. Once ALS begins it tends to lead to more and more loss of muscle function, and eventually, death.
The Ice Bucket Challenge is essentially a crowdsourcing fundraising event that has gone viral, to support research to prevent and treat ALS. To date, this event has raised $22 Million.
Tomorrow Advanced Pediatrics will have some fun, and will be proud to make a donation to the ALS Association, and we encourage all of us to do the same as alsa.com.
Enjoy the rest of your summer,
Advanced Pediatrics
Advanced Pediatrics
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