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Machine Learning Leads to Novel Way to Track Broward Health Presents Donation to American
Tremor Severity in Parkinson’s Patients Red Cross for Hurricane Dorian Relief Efforts

One of the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is tremors. This involuntary
movement disorder reduces quality of life by interrupting patients’ activities such as
writing and eating. Neurologists routinely measure tremors using the Unified
Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), which requires patients to perform specific
tasks. Unfortunately, this evaluation is based on an onsite physical exam that only
provides a snapshot of the patient’s tremor experience in their day-to-day life.
To effectively manage and treat tremors in PD patients, there is an urgent need for
an approach that can continuously measure tremors accurately without the need for
patients to perform specific tasks as they go about their daily activities.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and
Computer Science in collaboration with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
and the University of Rochester Medical Center, are teaching machines to accomplish
this job. They have developed algorithms that, combined with wearable sensors, can
continuously monitor patients and estimate total Parkinsonian tremor as they per-
form a variety of free body movements in their natural environments. The Broward Health Foundation recently presented a check for more than
Results of the study, published in the journal Sensors, indicate that this new $28,000 to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Dorian relief efforts. The dona-
approach holds great potential for providing a full spectrum of patients’ tremors tion is part of Broward Health’s continued commitment to support its neighbors in
throughout the course of the day. the Bahamas islands most-affected by the storm.
“A single, clinical examination in a doctor’s office often fails to capture a patient’s In the days following the September hurricane, Broward Health leadership,
complete continuum of tremors in his or her routine daily life,” said Behnaz employees and caregivers rallied to help. Broward Health President and CEO Gino
Ghoraani, Ph.D., senior author, an assistant professor in FAU’s Department of Santorio led efforts to send much-needed supplies on an air ambulance, and the
Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a fellow of FAU’s Foundation established an Employee Giving Campaign. Collectively, the Broward
Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems (I-SENSE) and FAU’s Brain Health team raised $28,134 to support the ongoing efforts of the American Red
Institute (I-BRAIN). “Wearable sensors, combined with machine-learning algorithms, Cross.
can be used at home or elsewhere to estimate a patient’s severity rating of tremors “This was a tremendous show of support by Broward Health employees and care-
based on the way that it manifests itself in movement patterns.” givers, as well as our community, who donated their time and monetary gifts for
The majority of existing approaches used today are task-dependent, requiring those in need,” said David Clark, Senior Vice President of Operations.
patients to perform standardized tasks like those used in rating scales. Furthermore, The check was presented at the North Broward Hospital District board meeting
these approaches only provide moderate to good performance because of limitations as Broward Health leaders detailed the significant efforts made by the American Red
in underlying algorithms to characterize tremor patterns from patients’ free body Cross to help evacuees settle locally, as well highlighted their continued on-the-
movements. ground support in the Bahamas and initial emergency response to the humanitarian
Ghoraani and her collaborators wanted to test the idea that machine-learning algo- crisis.
rithms could track and quantify resting tremor within daily living activities and sep- On hand for the check presentation were Foundation representatives Lisa Davis,
arate rhythmic shaking from normal activities without the performance of any stan- Amy Miller, and Wendy Erdmann, as well as North Broward Hospital District Chair
dardized tasks. Ray Berry, Vice Chair Nancy Gregoire, and Commissioners Stacy Angier,
Findings from the study showed that the gradient tree boosting method estimated Christopher Ure, and Marie Waugh, and Santorio, Alan Goldsmith, Executive Vice
the total tremor as well as the resting tremor sub-score with high accuracy, and in President and Chief Administrative Officer, and Alex Fernandez, Senior Vice
most cases, with the same results estimated using the UPDRS. This method also President and Chief Financial Officer. American Red Cross of Broward’s Chair
showed the decline in tremors after patients took their medication even in cases Cindy Imperato, board member Liz Caldwell, and Regional Philanthropy Officer
where results did not match total tremor sub-scores from the UPDRS assessments. Kevin Moran accepted the donation.
The LSTM-based method, on the other hand, provided lower performance.

Palmetto General Hospital Donates
Lee Health and NCH Reach Agreement to Centro Mater for Thanksgiving
on Bonita Community Health Center

After almost two decades of co-ownership of Bonita Community Health Center, Lee
Health and NCH Healthcare System have reached an agreement whereby Lee Health
will become the sole owner of the facility.
Lee Health’s publicly-elected Board of Directors approved the purchase at its board
meeting in October.
BCHC is a 100,000-square-foot facility with physician offices, urgent care center,
diagnostics and imaging, surgery center and physical therapy services. It opened in
December of 2000 as a joint operation of NCH and Lee Health with 50/50 ownership.
At the time, South Lee County was beginning to grow rapidly but was medically
underserved.
“Changing to a single owner will place Bonita Community Health Center in a
stronger position to better serve South Lee County,” said Larry Antonucci, M.D.,
MBA, President and CEO of Lee Health. “This acquisition creates the opportunity for
Lee Health to plan services between BCHC and Lee Health Coconut Point as sister
facilities, clinically and operationally coordinated to meet the needs of this growing
community.”
While NCH will no longer have an ownership interest in BCHC, it will continue to
serve the community through other nearby facilities, including NCH Healthcare
Bonita, a 24 hour emergency center with imaging and physician practices on U.S. 41, Palmetto General Hospital hosted a food drive to gather donations for food
as well as a comprehensive outpatient medical facility further south on U.S. 41 at baskets to be delivered to Centro Mater, a nonprofit organization that provides
Bonita Beach Road. early childhood education and social services to low income families. The food
Lee Health has no immediate operational changes planned at the time of acquisi- baskets are to be divided among many families in need throughout the holiday
tion. Patients will continue to see the same familiar physicians and providers and season. “We are so pleased to be able to help provide a celebratory Thanksgiving
staffing changes are not anticipated. meal to families in our community,” said Ana Mederos, Chief Executive Officer
of Palmetto General Hospital.

24 December 2019 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News