The Matty Fund team up to help parents of children with epilepsy

KINGSTON, R.I. – April 16, 2012 — The University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy and The Matty Fund are teaming up to help parents of children with epilepsy who want information about pharmaceuticals used to treat the disease.
URI Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice Brett Feret will answer questions at an Epilepsy Medication Parent Workshop April 24th at the Crown Plaza in Warwick.
“Pharmacy is an important piece of epilepsy treatment,” said Feret, explaining that a majority of children with epilepsy are on medicines that can be difficult to take and have side effects.
Matty Fund Executive Director Jessie Kenyon said medication is a topic about which parents of children with epilepsy want to know more. The non-profit organization offers different kinds of workshops and is expecting about 50 people to attend.
“This topic was coming up a lot,” Kenyon said. “We thought this would be a good thing to have an opportunity to hear about what might be coming around the bend in new treatment options.”
URI College of Pharmacy students have volunteered at the Matty Fund, which is a few miles from the Kingston campus in Wakefield, for several years. The goal of the Matty Fund is to provide family resources, raise epilepsy awareness, promote patient safety, and improve the quality of life for children and families living with the disease.
URI Pharmacy students Allegra Spiezio and Ji Yeong have helped plan the Epilepsy Medication Parent Workshop. They are putting together a powerpoint presentation for the event and have created promotional flyers. The student involvement is another way to promote experiential learning at URI.
For more information on the Matty Fund, visit. http://mattyfund.org.
Media Contact: Ericka Tavares, 401-874-2935