RAPID CITY, S.D. – Monument Health has opened a new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at Rapid City Hospital, giving patients in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming access to specialized epilepsy care closer to home.
The two-bed unit began accepting patients in February and is the first facility of its kind in the region. Previously, patients who needed extended epilepsy monitoring often had to travel to Minnesota or Colorado for treatment.
The unit provides five-day admissions during which patients are continuously monitored using electroencephalogram, or EEG, technology. Doctors use the monitoring to diagnose unexplained episodes, evaluate seizure disorders, adjust medications and determine whether symptoms may be caused by conditions other than epilepsy.
Monument Health expects the unit to serve between 24 and 30 patients each year.
Neurologist and epilepsy specialist Dr. Donald Barr says the monitoring unit is an important diagnostic tool that can help improve treatment options and quality of life for patients and their families.
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