Even Nuclear Engineers Can Suffer From Strokes and Recover With the Help of the Tutor Sytem

As reported on October 25, 2011 by the CNN Wire Staff. The American researcher, who was stranded in the South Pole for weeks after suffering a stroke, is finally back on American soil., Renee-Nicole Douceur, 58, landed at Washington’s Dulles International Airport Monday evening.
In an exclusive interview with CNN affiliate WJLA, Douceur said “I am so glad to be home. It’s great to be here. It’s great to be back in America”. Tuesday Douceur will be at Johns Hopkins Hospital to undergo additional testing and determine a plan for rehabilitation. Monday she told WJLA her condition is improving but she still struggles with speech, vision and memory problems.
The researcher’s experience began on August 27 when she became ill while working at the National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott research station in Antarctica., She was unable to leave the station to receive treatment because weather and storms prevent planes from landing during the region’s winter period. “While I was devastated that I had a stroke, it was like, oh, my God, it just stymied me … and I cried,” Douceur said. “I just didn’t know what to do and the doctors basically told me, just go back to my room,” she said in a recent interview.
Raytheon Polar Services, the company that runs the station for the NSF, told CNN that Douceur’s station has a well-trained medical staff that can provide all levels of treatment for employees. Elizabeth Cohen, the senior medical correspondent for CNN, said it wasn’t the lack of doctors that was the issue. It was the lack of equipment and a stroke expert. “In the United States, or New Zealand they would have stroke experts who would be able to do imaging and see where that stroke was and do rehab specifically designed for that particular location of the brain where the stroke occurred. But they don’t have that there” Cohen said. Cohen said Douceur did some basic rehab while at the station which includes relearning math. “This is a nuclear engineer who is having trouble with sixth-grade math” Cohen said.
After several weeks of waiting, a U.S. Air Force C-17 plane was able to evacuate Douceur who was taken to Christchurch, New Zealand for testing before being able to come home to the U.S.,
The Tutor system is a widely used newly developed set of devices (HandTutor, ArmTutor, LegTutor, 3DTutor) that are used extensively in post stroke rehabilitation., The Tutor system has become a key system in neuromuscular rehabilitation and physical therapy. These innovative devices implement an impairment based program with augmented feedback and encourage motor learning through intensive active exercises. These exercises are challenging and motivating and allow for repetitive training tailored to the patient’s performance. The system also includes objective quantitative evaluations that provide the therapist information to customize the most suitable rehabilitation program to the patient’s ability. Currently part of the rehabilitation program of leading U.S. and foreign hospitals the Tutors are also used in clinics and at home through the use of telerehabilitation.