Kingston woman credits Allied Services, Vivistim

REPOSTED FROM TIMES LEADER By MARY THERESE BIEBEL
 

After suffering a stroke in October 2023, Trudy Coleman of Kingston had trouble walking, swallowing and writing her name — let alone practicing her hobbies of painting, sketching and crocheting.

But she’s been faithful about attending occupational therapy sessions, and completing the homework assignments therapist Lori Ackerman gives her.

She also credits a medical device called Vivistim, which was surgically implanted near her left clavicle in November 2024 and which sends electrical impulses to stimulate her vagus nerve, with helping her make greater strides.

“We’ve seen Trudy take this and shine,” said Rebecca Carr, a therapy development specialist from Vivistim, who was on hand at Allied Services in Wilkes-Barre Township as Coleman went through her Friday morning occupational therapy.

It’s not Vivistim alone that helps a person recover from stroke, Carr said. The device, which was developed in Texas and which the FDA approved in 2021, is an aid for the work the patient still must do.

Simply having the implant, Carr said, would be “the equivalent of getting a treadmill but then just staring at it.”

But Coleman, 73, has been conscientious about her therapy. During Friday morning’s session she spooned grains of rice from one container to another, using her right hand, which was the once weakened one.

“Now you would never know that she had a stroke and what side was the stroke side,” Ackerman said.

Coleman practiced writing her name, and used stickers to decorate a page.

She also had a present for Carr, pulling out a colorful picture of a unicorn that she had painted, and getting a hug from the recipient.

“Look at all the shading,” Carr said, admiring the way the unicorn’s horn and hooves appeared to gleam.

“She is a very talented artist,” Carr said of Coleman.

While it was true that the unicorn was not something Coleman had drawn freehand, she has started working on a picture of flowers for Ackerman — and she IS doing that one freehand.

“I told her I like purple coneflowers,” Ackerman said, smiling at the progress her client has made.

In a gesture people who haven’t had a stroke might take for granted, Coleman opened the photo gallery on her cell phone and showed a photograph of coneflowers that she’s using for inspiration. She also showed off photos of her two pugs, Tux and Tilly, who keep her busy.

She’d been in the backyard with them on Oct. 7, 2023 when she had the stroke.

“I fell to the ground,” she said, describing the sudden event, and how she was able to “crawl over to a post, pull myself up and call 911.”

After a week in the hospital and some inpatient therapy followed by outpatient therapy, Coleman learned she was a good candidate for the Vivistim Paired VNS Therapy System, which uses vagus nerve stimulation during therapy and daily activities to help improve upper limb function.

The system is designed for adults who have had an ischemic stroke, which is a stroke caused by a blood clot. Some 80 percent of strokes are ischemic, Carr said.

It is often considered for patients who have reached a plateau with conventional therapy. And the ideal candidate is at least six months post stroke.

When Coleman is having an occupational therapy session, Ackerman controls the Vivistim device, which sends impulses through a lead wire to the vagus nerve in Coleman’s neck.

At home, Coleman can activate the Vivistim device herself, for 30-minute sessions of timed stimulation, up to 8 times a day.

The devices have been implanted into about 100 patients in the Greater Philadelphia area, Carr said.

Before the device was implanted, Coleman said, she felt as if she was 60% recovered from the stroke. With the device, she said, “I feel 85% better.”