Compassionate, comprehensive care

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 16:52:00 EDT

About five years ago, Tommy Vaughn started having trouble remembering details. He grew short and irritated with his wife, Rita, and their three adult children. None of this was normal behavior for Tommy. He always had been a loving and patient husband and father.

“When Tommy came to me and said, ‘I think I need help,’ we didn’t wait,” Rita says. “His mother had dementia, and Tommy also had a cousin with dementia, so we were hyper-aware.”

Getting Tommy the help that he needed wasn’t easy. Even with the Vaughns’ experience caring for family members, navigating Tommy’s new world — finding the right experts, getting answers, ensuring Rita had the support she needed as a caregiver — was time-consuming and frustrating. Several providers dismissed Tommy’s memory loss as routine aging.

The Vaughns persisted.

When Tommy finally was referred to Hamid Okhravi, MD, the Alfred E. Abiouness Distinguished Professor in Geriatrics and the Director of the Comprehensive Memory Center at the Goldrich Neurohealth Institute, the family felt immediate relief. Within weeks, they had a diagnosis — Lewy body dementia — and a treatment plan.

“I don’t know that the other physicians we’ve seen would have been as proactive as Dr. Okhravi was,” Rita says. “If we hadn’t found him, Tommy might not be in such a good place, physically and mentally, right now.”

In Hampton Roads, roughly 40,000 people are living with Alzheimer’s disease. About 4,000 live with Parkinson’s disease. The keys to effective treatment are early identification and intervention. Too often, however, those with neurodegenerative diseases go undiagnosed for years after their initial symptoms. That’s why the establishment of the EVMS Lawrence J. Goldrich Institute for Integrated NeuroHealth is so important.

A pillar of the EVMS Deliver on the Promise Campaign, the Goldrich Institute opened to patients in November 2022. Its establishment was made possible through a $15 million gift from Virginia Beach residents Larry and Janice Goldrich. It was created to provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for patients suffering from neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.