Neurological institute created

Dan Kulin

Thursday, July 15, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

The newly created Nevada Neurosciences Institute at Sunrise gives potential patients in Southern Nevada a central place to contact for treatment and education about neurological health problems and is expected to lead to greater research opportunities, the doctors involved said Wednesday.

The institute, a group of about a dozen doctors, is based at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center. There are plans for a new building on the hospital campus at Desert Inn and Maryland Parkway to house the institute in two or three years.

The institute's creation was announced during a press conference at Sunrise.

Joseph Albini, 73, of Las Vegas, said the institute would have helped him when he started seeking treatment for a tremor condition that was fixed with surgery in October 2001.

Albini said he didn't know where to go at first, and his first calls for help were to a Utah company after seeing their ad in the newspaper. Three months later he was in contact with local doctors.

If the institute had been around then, Albini said there's no doubt he would have gone there first.

Dr. Benjamin Venger, co-director of the institute, said the local neurology community was "very disorganized" before the establishment of the institute, which offers a full spectrum of neurological care from surgery to rehabilitation.

By bringing area neurology doctors together, the institute will allow for more collaboration and consultation, doctors said.

The institute will also make it easier to do more research, Dr. John Anson, the other institute co-director, said.

"When you're working in isolation it's hard to accomplish that sort of stuff" Anson said.

To contact the institute for more information call 731-8115.