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ByFranMaye fmaye@21st-centurymedia.com @kennettpaper on Twitter KENNETT SQUARE, PENN. The last straw for Amy Lewis, 36, (not her last name) came after she was forced to stay in bed all day long with an icepack on her head, unable to play with her 2-year-old son or go out with her husband. Her migraine headaches that began when she was 19 became debilitating. She simply couldn't func- tion. She was one of more than 36 million Americans who are afflicted with mi- graines. "I took over the coun- ter medicine and it didn't help," she said. "I went to a sleep and migraine spe- cialty center and took high doses of vitamin B supple- ments. I changed my diet. I went to massage therapy. I went to a chiropractor. None of those treatments helped me." Amy found relief when she saw a sign for the Migraine Headache Re- lief Center of Pennsylva- nia and Dr. Jeffrey Har- ris while taking her son to daycare. After completing treat- ment there, she hasn't had a migraine. She's not alone. Amy is one of hundreds of migraine suffers who claim the treatments Har- ris offers are permanent. In fact, Harris said he has had a 92 percent long-term success rate with migraine sufferers. "I've had patients who were going to commit sui- cide, that's how bad it is," Harris said at his office in Pennsylvania. "That's how bad it is. One young man attempted to hang himself twice. That's the kind of people I get. For me, (cur- ing migraine headaches) is the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life." Harris's treatment for migraine sufferers is unique and is now used by about 450 doctors across the country. The solution came after recent advance- ments in technology cou- pled with a more sophis- ticated understanding of dentally-related neuro- muscular forces have al- tered the treatment land- scapes for migraine pain. "We found that (mi- graine pain) has to do with the muscles of the head, neck and jaw, and the way the teeth come together. The muscles have to func- tion properly," said Harris, a licensed dentist. "Forces imbalanced by the way the teeth come together send a biofeedback loop to the brain that causes the pain through the brain stem." Harris likens the pain to someone with a pebble in their shoe. After some time, a pain develops in the lower back. Eliminat- ing the pebble eventually eliminates the back pain. Harris said the proce- dures, which could take up to 12 treatments, involves no needles, no pain and no drugs. "People come in here at their wits end, and it's such a simple process," Harris said. "I am a dentist so I can do things differently than the medical world. All a neurologist can do is give the patient pills or drugs. I've had people who have been with neurologists for years and years and go through all the drugs and they tell me the drugs don't work. What I am do- ing is changing the chem- istry in the brain stem nu- cleus. I do it with no drugs because drugs sensitize the command center that triggers all the headaches in the human brain." Harris said many mi- graines are triggered by stress, or are hormone-re- lated or alcohol-induced. No matter. Migraines can be permanently elimi- nated, he said. "It (the treatment) changes the way the body responds to the trigger," he said. "I'm not treating the symptom, I'm treating the root cause in how the brain gets the signal. I've been in practice for 33 years and if you told me 33 years ago I would be treating headache patients, I would have told you that you were nuts." Harris' method is called the TruDenta system, which helps to cure the pain of migraine and other headaches, tinnitus, TMJ, and vertigo. Harris said curing pa- tients of migraines has changed his life. "It's the most rewarding thing to take a patient and watch them get better," he said. "Lives are changed forever. (Former patients) bring in cookies, baked goods, they are so happy," he said. TruDenta care is often covered by medical in- surance, and Harris has found companies have reimbursed between 48 and 52 percent of the to- tal cost. Fee for service is also an option. To learn more, visit www.headachereliefpa. com or www.trudenta. com. MIGRAINES De nt is t ha s sure-fired cure for migraines By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press WASHINGTON Would you know what to do if you see someone collapse, not breathing — a loved one at home, a co-worker at the office, a stranger on the street? Far too many Amer- icans die of cardiac arrest, and now a major new re- port urges a national cam- paign to improve survival in part by making sure more bystanders know how to help. Every year, about 395,000 people suffer cardiac arrest in their homes or other non- hospital settings — and less than 6 percent of them sur- vive, the Institute of Med- icine estimated last week. Cardiac arrest is not a heart attack — it's worse. It means the heart abruptly stops beating, its electri- cal activity knocked out of rhythm. CPR can buy criti- cal time if it's started imme- diately, but Tuesday's report concludes the nation must take key steps to give vic- tims a better shot. "Cardiac arrest survival rates are unacceptably low," said Dr. Robert Graham of George Washington Univer- sity, who chaired the IOM committee's investigation. "There is a lot an individual can do to assist somebody if they witness one, and to work with their communi- ties to improve the system of response." What to do may sound straightforward: Call 911, and then start quick, hard compressions of the per- son's chest until trained re- sponders arrive. If a device called an AED — an auto- mated external defibrillator — is available, use it. In reality, the IOM com- mittee said fear, not un- derstanding what cardiac arrest is, lack of first-aid training and concern about legal liability can hamper response and cost precious time. Each year, less than 3 percent of the U.S. popu- lation receives training in CPR or defibrillator use, while some European coun- tries mandate training, the report found. The IOM called for a ma- jor public education effort to teach people how to rec- ognize and react to cardiac arrest — including mak- ing CPR training a gradu- ation requirement for high school. According to the American Heart Associa- tion, Connecticut just be- came the 24th state to pass legislation to do that. State and local health departments should team with health groups to cre- ate "a culture of action," the IOM recommended. It also urged employers to stock defibrillators and train workers to use them, and expanded access to CPR training for people over age 65 and their caregivers. Good Samaritan laws provide varying legal pro- tection by state. At the same time, laymen shouldn't feel they have to provide perfect care, said IOM committee member Dr. Tom Aufderheide of the Medical College of Wiscon- sin. "Any CPR and any early defibrillation delivered by the public is better than no care at all," he said. LOW SURVIVAL RATES Report urges help for victims of cardiac arrest "I 'v e h ad pa ti en ts w ho we re g oi ng to c om mi t su icid e, th at 's h ow ba d i t i s. O ne you ng m an at te mp te d t o han g h im se lf tw ic e. T ha t' s th e k in d o f pe op le I g et . Fo r me , (c ur in g mi gr ai ne he ad ac hes ) is t he m ost re wa rd in g th in g I h av e ev er d o ne i n my l if e. " — D r. J eff re y H ar ri s By Virginia Lindak Digital First Media LANCASTER, PENN. Engi- neering students at West- town School have devel- oped robotic hands for two area children. As part of the school's Hand Project, and in conjunction with Nemours/ Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Delaware, the high school students worked for months in Westtown's Science In- stitute, customizing each hand so it would fit each child accordingly. Steve Compton, teacher and director of Westtown Science Institute, said the project is a great opportu- nity for students to see the difference they can make in the real world. Using a 3-D printer to design the hand, the prosthesis is then fash- ioned using a variety of dif- ferent kinds of plastics. "We began conversa- tions several years ago around how to make proj- ect-based learning more au- thentic and have opportuni- ties for kids to do things be- yond what happens at the school," said Compton. "It has very little to do with the hand per se, it has to do with raising these kids up to understand that when you are doing real life work, all of a sudden you have to take on tasks you may never (have) thought of." The $13 million science center on campus opened up last January and in- cludes an engineering lab where activities such as the Hand Project are possible, using cutting edge applica- tion tools like 3-D printers. Not long after opening, a re- quest to make a hand came for 8-year-old Steele Songle, whose mother, Ellen, works at Westtown. Steele was born without a hand and Ellen asked if one could be made in the lab. "The kids take on proj- ects that they pitch to me," Compton said. "They have to present a project in terms of its functional feasibility and funding feasibility. If they pass all the tests, then they get to pursue the proj- ect for the semester. The group of kids decided to take on the Hand Project." After designing and build- ing a hand for Steele, many more requests for hands came in. Compton said his team of eight students sat down to discuss what they could do. Students work on the project on their own time; after school, weekends and during the summer, to ensure the hands will fit the clients comfortably. "When the work is for real clients, it doesn't end. They feel compelled to con- tinue to do it," said Comp- ton. "We knew Steele's hand couldn't be activated by his wrist action because he only had one tiny little bone instead of a wrist. A group of kids took on the project of creating a hand that could be driven by motors, so it would receive signals of electricity from Steele's muscles. There are tiny motors attached to it and we have EMG elec- trodes that we place on his forearm and his bicep. When he flexes those mus- cles, the different muscles in his arms put out differ- ent signatures of electric- ity, and that will then go into a little computer that is part of the package. The computer recognizes which set of signals and will move the fingers of the hand ac- cording to a computer code. It's more fine tunable but it's a lot more complex." Joy Baffone, 6, was the next child fitted for a hand. Students spent several weeks designing, tailoring just for her wrist. Compton said Joy was the first client to be able to walk out of the science center with a hand. Compton said he plans for the Hand Project to con- tinue at the school for many years to come and has al- ready identified next year's team of students for the project. The students are eager to get started and have already discussed the direction the want to take the project in terms of cod- ing, design and arm physi- ology studies. Compton said he would like to develop a commu- nity based after-school pro- gram for underserved kids in the area, like the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dela- ware, and teach them how to work with 3-D printers. CUTTING EDGE EDUCATION Students develop robotic hands for young children PHOTOSBYVINNYTENNIS —DAILYLOCALNEWS Steele Songle, le , is fit with electrodes by Casey Dech and Xan Lorimer at the Westtown School in Lancaster. Students work on the project on their own time; a er school, weekends and during the summer, to ensure the hands will fit the clients comfortably. Serving Red Bluff for 30 years Look to us for Expert Eye Care. 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