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The Les Turner ALS Foundation’s patient services programs are dedicated to helping patients and families living with ALS. At the Les Turner/Lois Insolia ALS Center, established in 1986, specialists provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment. The Center is located at Northwestern Medicine, one of the top 15 hospitals nationwide for neurology and neurosurgery. The Foundation also provides in-home visits through the Home and Community Services Team, a group of three nurses and two social workers with a combined 100 years of experience in ALS. They are trained to provide ongoing information, assessment, support and referral. Other programs include support groups and educational meetings, an equipment loan bank, and grants for home modifications and respite care.

Research

The Foundation’s research initiative at Northwestern began in 1979, when the first Les Turner ALS Foundation Laboratory was dedicated. Dr. Teepu Siddique, the Les Turner ALS Foundation/Herbert C. Wenske Foundation Professor, has directed this lab since 1991. Among the lab’s many accomplishments is the co-discovery of SOD1, the first gene known to cause familial ALS, and the identification of a faulty protein pathway as a common cause of all forms of ALS. Dr. P. Hande Ozdinler directs the second Les Turner ALS Research Laboratory and has done so since its inception in 2008. Dr. Ozdinler is an Assistant Professor of Neurology, and her lab has developed numerous new research tools, as well as an in vitro, small-scale drug screening platform.

http://www.lesturnerals.org/about/history-and-mission

The Foundation's mission supports:

Patient services. Full spectrum patient care, including the Les Turner/Lois Insolia ALS Center, the Home and Community Services Team, a communications and medical equipment program, respite grants, support group meetings, and much more.

Research. More than 30 years of groundbreaking research in partnership with the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois.

Events, education and awareness. Local focus—global reach. Take part in events in your own neighborhood that will support ALS families in Chicago and beyond.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or motor neuron disease (MND), causes motor neurons to stop working and die. The result is loss of voluntary movement and muscle functions such as speaking, swallowing, and breathing. ALS occurs regardless of race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. ALS is most common between 40 and 70 years of age, although it can strike at any age. In the US, someone is diagnosed every 90 minutes, and 35,000 people are living with ALS. Average lifespan is three to five years from diagnosis. Approximately 10% of all cases are inherited forms, and a faulty protein pathway is known to play a role in all types of ALS. Though treatment of symptoms often improves quality of life, there is no cure for ALS.

The Foundation serves more than 90% of the ALS population in the Chicago area. The Foundation is also one of the nation's largest independent ALS organizations and has raised over $48 million to fight Lou Gehrig's disease. In addition, through wide-ranging research and symposiums for healthcare professionals, the Foundation reaches the ALS community worldwide. The Foundation is affiliated with Northwestern Medicine and is a founding member of the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations.

The Les Turner ALS Foundation makes a difference in the lives of PALS (people with ALS) in the Chicagoland area. They work closely with the doctors and nurses at the Les Turner/Lois Inolia ALS Center at Northwestern Medicine, where I receive my treatment. Their Home & Community Services Team offers several great programs for patients such as support groups for PALS, their families and caregivers, transportation to pick us up and take us to and from my clinic appointments, every 3 to 4 months, and ALS Patient and Family Advocates who come to my home and talk with my family and I, making sure our home is safe and handicapped accessible. They also have a large supply of donated walkers, wheelchairs, and other equipment to lend to those in need. The Les Turner ALS Foundation makes sure that no one who is a PALS, ever has to feel alone.

All donations to this cause will go directly to my team, “Team Judylicious Midwest,” for the Les Turner ALS Foundation’s 12^th Annual ALS Walk4Life event on September 22, 2013 at Soldier Field. All ALS Walk4Life fundraising will support the Foundation’s programs for research, patient care and services, and education.

Don a yellow vest and collect Tag Days donations for two hours on a Saturday in May.

Pass out t-shirts and water to walkers in our annual ALS Walk4Life or to runners at one of our Run4ALS Signature 5K events.

Sell raffle tickets at our Diamond Dare charity baseball games at Alexian Field in Schaumburg.

Team up with a neighbor to contact participants for a Family and Community Event.