OZH STAFF
NEURO Warriors T
BY DWAIN HEBDA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES MOORE
he neurological care at Ozarks Healthcare is noteworthy be- cause several elements come together in ways you rarely
see in hospitals this size — or almost any size for that matter. “We have a small center, but it’s a center
of excellence,” said Dr. Clara Applegate, the department’s neurologist who’s been in practice here for more than 30 years. “We had the first stroke team in southern Missouri, which we opened within a year of the publication of tPA as a treatment for stroke. “We not only said we were going to be a
Level II stroke center, which means being able to do everything including tPA for treatment of stroke, but once we did it, we’ve remained a Level II stroke center all these years.” Applegate is used to the “small but
mighty” tag; for the bulk of her career in West Plains, she’s been the only neurologist here, committed to treating people who might not otherwise have access to care. “The No. 1 diagnosis here is migraines,”
she said. “Alzheimer’s is probably 20 per- cent of my practice. Epilepsy is a signifi- cant part of my practice; I do adults and children. Parkinson’s and stroke are prob- ably 10 to 15 percent each.” In her work, Applegate is surround-
ed by a team of medical professionals, one of whom is Sharon Sowder, a speech language pathologist. With 35 years in her field and 16 working for Ozarks Healthcare, she’s another rarity in a hos- pital this size. “I have a wide variety in my caseload
on a daily basis,” she said. “I see stroke patients, head and neck cancer patients, Parkinson’s patients, ALS. I also have a subset called augmentative commu- nication where I evaluate patients for a speech-generating device. That’s new.” Sowder has the most seniority among
the department’s 15 therapists, but re- gardless of tenure, the range of expertise on display here daily is broad. That, com- bined with frequent collaboration with other specialists, helps patients get what they need all in one place. “The collaboration is key, in my opinion, especially for a stroke patient where you’re coordinating with the physical therapists,
28 | OZARKS HEALTHCARE | SUMMER 2022
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