April 4
Health
Back in the Driver's Seat
By Thomas Hedge
Bobby Rohan was a swimming and cycling All-American Athlete by the age of 17. But, while cycling on a busy street, a car suddenly forced him into a parked bus. His injuries to the C5 and C6 vertebrae resulted in quadriplegia. Throughout his six-month rehabilitation, Bobby and his care team worked on building his strength and preparing him to return to the community.
Within two years of the accident, Bobby enrolled in the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine Driver Preparation Program at Northridge Hospital. As one of only five disabled driving programs in the greater Los Angeles area, it offers patients a customized assessment, behind the wheel evaluation, and training with adaptive equipment. "It's hard to explain the wonderful feeling you get when you drive again for the first time. My care team tailored every aspect of the vehicle to me so I could return to the road with assurance that I would be a safe and independent driver," says Bobby.
Nearly 16 years later, Bobby is a Field Correspondence Consultant for Disabled Dealer magazine. He also volunteers as a peer counselor at various hospitals where he visits paraplegic and quadriplegic patients to lend an ear and give advice.
Driver Preparation Program
Driving is a complex skill that requires the correct functioning of your patients' vision, visual perception, hearing, motor abilities and decision-making.
Your patients may be affected by medical conditions and diseases that can impair their safe driving abilities, such as:
The Center for Rehabilitation Medicine offers a Driver Preparation Program to help you and your patients identify problems that may affect their safety or independence while driving.
The Driver Preparation Program provides comprehensive evaluation and training to drivers with a valid license or permit. One of only four disabled driving programs in the Greater Los Angeles Area, the Program uses a team of Occupational Therapists and Licensed Driving Instructor who specialize in the evaluation and redemption of driving skills.
Initially, an Occupational Therapist will assess your patient's pre-driving skills through a variety of standardized tools to test vision, perception, cognition and physical abilities.
Next, a behind the wheel evaluation of your patient's skills is conducted to assess actual driving skills and endurance for driving. For disabled patients, this also includes ability to transfer, wheelchair loading and vehicle modifications or adaptive equipment needs.
The American Medical Association recommends a driving evaluation any time that a medical condition affects an individual's ability to drive in a safe, independent or legal manner.
To refer to the Driver Preparation Program, your patient will need:
The results of the evaluation are reported to the referring physician.
To make a referral or for more information on the Driver Preparation Program, please call the Occupational Therapy Department at (818) 885-5460.
Thomas Hedge, M.D., Medical Director
Center for Rehabilitation Medicine and
Brain Injury Day Treatment Program
Dr. Krochmal, MD Integrative Wellness
By Lark Aldrin-Clement
Do you have an ailment that many doctors have tried to remedy to no avail? Has your doctor tried the "trial and error" approach and prescribed a litany of medicines that makes you feel like a home pharmacy? Our culture is so bogged down with busy schedules consisting of child rearing, exhausting jobs, and unrelenting commutes that it results in little time for exercise or for preparing wholesome food, and the tendency to resort to pills for the slightest illness. What if there was someone who could put you back on track and empower you to make the right life choices, wean you off those anti-depressants, and help you keep your extra weight off for good? There may be an answer to your prayers.
Fifteen years ago, Dr. Robert Krochmal, a Connecticut native, moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of his medical degree at UCLA. In the year between college at Brown University and the beginning of his medical education, Krochmal spent his time in Peru studying the medicinal qualities of rainforest plants thus creating a foundation of knowledge in non-traditional medicine. "It was an awakening to other healing modalities that allowed me not to take Western medicine at face value," says Krochmal.
After working at White Memorial Medical Center in East Los Angeles for 10 years, where one of his greatest achievements has been the creation of a community garden allowing children to cultivate vegetables and learn about medicinal plants, Krochmal decided to take his wealth of knowledge in to the private sector. In January 2008, offices in Woodland Hills and Santa Monica were established as "Integrative Wellness" locations.
What is "Integrative Wellness"? Krochmal says, "It is medicinal therapies from all over, it's East meets West and North meets South working together to achieve overall well being." Treatments for weight loss sleep disorders, food allergies, stress management, fibromyalgia, and preventative measures for a variety of ailments are offered at these locations. Visits with Dr. Krochmal are thorough, private, and personalized, with the focus being on a- collaborative effort between doctor and patient to "Use the best judgment to find a path to healing, whether that is weaning off unnecessary medications, or putting together a weight loss or wellness plan." says Krochmal.
Growing up during the margarine craze of the 1970's, Dr. Krochmal now has the medical expertise to understand how the body reacts to certain foods and environmental stresses. Being junk food free himself now, Krochmal can identify with his patients who strive for a healthier lifestyle. Around fifty percent of his patients are seeking weight loss or nutritional counseling for themselves or their children. Being a parent himself, Krochmal can recognize the challenges that may arise. Krochmal says, "The target weight will be more easily obtainable once the patient starts to feel great and becomes more and more motivated to achieve overall healthiness."
Open to alternative methods such as acupuncture, hypnotherapy, chiropractic, and herbal treatments, Krochmal uses his clinical intuition and judgment to determine whether someone still requires Western medicine and will prescribe appropriately. While Dr. Krochmal works privately on his own, takes his calls personally, and manages most cases with his own holistic approach, he does have a variety of partnerships with additional healing practitioners that can complement his treatments when necessary.
You will not feel like you are in a doctor's office at either location. They are set up with an organic quality with plants, welcoming furniture, and no lab coat in sight. This atmosphere creates the most inviting experience possible, where healing is facilitated on every level. Krochmal says, "My goal is to strive for the highest level of service and integrity and to help provide solutions where they are hard to find in order to create lasting healing for my patients." When was the last time your doctor said that? For those ready to go beyond Western medicine and are looking for a more personal and holistic approach, Dr Krochmal may be the right person for you.
For more information, please contact Dr. Robert Krochmal at 310-625-9548 or email him at drrob@mdintegrative.com
M.D. Integrative Wellness Locations:
22543 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 225
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
1460 7th Street, Suite 201
Santa Monica, CA 90401