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Glenn Mitchell

UWRT 1104

Professor Jizi

29 March 2017

Annotated Bibliography

"Asked and Answered Canadian Virtual Hospice." Asked and Answered Canadian Virtual

Hospice. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

This is a source that is talking about how do we care for someone with ALS. It

starts by explaining what ALS is which is a progressive disease that affects the nervous

system. The source then goes into detail about how the disease can affect someones

body such as mobility, communication and swallowing. It explains how in the early

stages of ALS the person with ALS with have a neurologist that sees how the disease is

affecting their body and provides medication. The source in the last two paragraphs talks

about solutions to how ALS affects the body. When swallowing is affected the source

talks about getting a feeding tube or getting all the food through nutrients. When

breathing is affected the source talks about use breathing machines to make sure that the

patient keeps breathing. Throughout the article the source says its every individuals

choice so each person must decide what they want.

This article is relevant to my inquiry project because it gave me more information

on how ALS affects the body such as eating and breathing. It also raised the question to

me of how long do people with ALS normally live so Im going to use that to help me

find another article about it.

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This is a valid source because it comes from Virtual Hospice which has a lot of

professionals in many fields that work for them and they provide information on the

topics. The Canadian Virtual Hospice is a group of palliative care leaders that gathered

together to create a web-based platform that can help the public. The Ask a

professional team is created by 13 people that all have different backgrounds in medical

research and medical help. On the website, you can read about all 13 professionals and

learn about their experience in the field. The Canadian Virtual Hospice also has another

team called the Executive and Administrative team

Bartels, EJ. "Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Helping the Patient with Lou Gehrig's Disease." Rn.

42.12 (1979): 48-50. Print.

In this source, Bartels was first discussing how when he was trying to help his

patient Joe with ALS he must first research what ALS is so that there is no confusion.

Bartels was saying the definition of what ALS is and what parts of the body it can affect

and how it can affect it. After that he goes into depth of how you can help someone with

ALS and he breaks it down based on which part of the body is affected. He also gives

tips on how to help someone with ALS when they are eating such as keeping their head in

a certain position. Bartels states that while working with someone with ALS the

caregiver should be there for them but also check on yourself so that the caregiver doesnt

stop paying attention to their self.

This article is relevant to my inquiry project because I am trying to find ways in

which I can help someone with ALS and be a better caretaker for that person. It also has

helped me think about where to go next in my sources as I need to research more into
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ALS to figure out what exactly it is because I know what it is but it would be better to go

into more detail. The article also fits into my project because it gave me real life tips on

how I can help someone and it gives me hope to help more people and be more

successful when helping someone.

This is a valid and credible source because it was a journal that EJ Bartels wrote

about his personal findings while working with those with ALS and he also used research

and data to back up his points. Since the information given was from his journal it is

credible because he did research about ALS and has written plenty of other journals about

ALS. Bartels journal has been praised by a majority of medical professionals who

believe that the information he provides on helping someone with ALS is correct. It was

also reviewed by someone to make sure the information was correct but the name of who

reviewed it was not given.

Mark Stibich, PhD - Reviewed by a Board-certified Physician. "What Is the Life Expectancy of a

Person With ALS?" Verywell. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

This source starts off by giving a brief explanation of what ALS is which is a

neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It then

goes into giving some fact about the average life expectancy of someone that has ALS.

Over 50% live over 3 years, 20% live over 5 years, 10% over 10 years and 5% over 20

years. It then goes into details about ways you can increase your life expectancy such as

medication, noninvasive ventilation, and percutaneous endoscopic gastronomy. Right

now, the only medication approved by the FDA is Riluzole which helps prolong life
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expectancy for a few months but there is other medication that will help their quality of

life. Noninvasive ventilation helps increase life expectancy 7-11 months and it uses a

tube and a mask to help you breathe. Percutaneous endoscopic gastronomy is a tube

thats placed in the stomach and it helps keep body weight stable.

This article is relevant to my inquiry project because knowing ways to increase

life expectancy is something people helping those with ALS should know. Knowing

what medication may help increase life expectancy and make their quality of life good is

something important to know because already having the disease is bad. This source

raised the question of if there is someone who has lived for a long time while having

ALS. It will be interesting to see how they have survived and maybe how people can use

what they did to increase their survival time.

This is a valid source because it is written by Mark Stibich who has a PhD from

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer

for Xenex Healthcare Services which is a company that uses a disinfection system they

made to make patient care areas safer. This source is also valid because it is reviewed by

a board-certified physician and the source Stibich used were from the ALS website.

McCoy, Terrence. "How Stephen Hawking, Diagnosed with ALS Decades Ago, Is Still

Alive." The Washington Post. WP Company, 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

This article is about Stephen Hawking who is a man that was diagnosed with ALS

and he has been living with ALS for so long. The article talks about how Hawking

shouldnt be able to do what he can now because of the ALS. The article also talks about

how the average lifespan of someone with ALS is 2-5 years and how Hawking has passed

the two-decade mark twice which leads people to wonder how is he still alive. It talks
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about how Hawking got ALS when he was 22 which is a young age to have ALS and that

can be one of the reasons why he has lived longer.

This article is relevant to my inquiry project because Stephen Hawking is

someone who has ALS and while researching about ALS in my project his name came up

a lot. Also, it is relevant because they go into depth to see how Stephen Hawking has

lived so long and that information can help when helping someone with ALS. This

article didnt bring up any new questions for my project but it answered questions I had

made during my inquiry project.

This source is valid because it is an article in The Washington Post which is a

well-respected newspaper that a lot of people read. It is written by Terrence McCoy who

is a writer for the Washington Post and he writes a lot of articles about different topics

such as solutions to social problems, poverty, social justice and more. He is a well-

respected writer and he has been with the Washington Post for a long time as well which

shows that he is very reliable.

02, 2015 Linda Matchan Globe Staff January. "Caring for ALS Patient Takes Toll on

Extraordinary Family - The Boston Globe." BostonGlobe.com. N.p., 02 Jan. 2015. Web. 09 Apr.

2017.

This article is about how helping someone with ALS can influence the person

helping them and the patients family. In this article, they interviewed a family in which

the mother Joanne has ALS and John, Melissa, and Melissas father Michael Rocha are

taking care of her. Joanne has been in the hospital and ALS has taken over her body but

she said she wants to stay alive for as long as she can and it influences the family. The

family must go every day to the hospital and they help take care of her and they havent
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gone on vacation in over 12 years because they are constantly always worried about her.

They all admit to how hard the process is of helping Joanne is and they have their own

health problems themselves but they cant focus on them since they are focused on her.

This article is relevant to my inquiry project because I wanted to learn about

helping someone with ALS and this helps talk about helping someone with ALS and the

affects it can have on your life. I think it is important to know about these things before

you start helping someone because your life is important also. It is also very relevant to

my inquiry project because it is an interview of a family that is affected by ALS and

hearing the information they share personally can really help me learn about being a

caretaker and making sure I still watch my life also.

This is a valid source because it is from the Boston Globe and it was an interview

that was done of a family that is affected by ALS. The information shared in the

interview is all shared first hand by the family which helps the validity and with it being

the Boston Globe which is a reputable source helps increase the validity even more. The

Boston Globe has been around for a long time and people across the United States read it.