Dr. Jan Brunstrom honored as ‘Healthcare Hero’
Jan Brunstrom, MD, director of the SLCH Pediatric Neurology Cerebral Palsy Center, was honored Oct. 5 by the St. Louis Business Journal as one of the area’s healthcare heroes. These individuals are everyday heroes who are changing and saving lives in the region.
Dr. Brunstrom and the Cerebral Palsy (CP) center team help children with CP gain mobility and independence through exercise and physical therapy. Dr. Brunstrom has developed classes for patients, including water aerobics and martial arts. She and other physicians established the center in 1998 and now serve about 1,500 children with CP.
“Having cerebral palsy doesn’t mean you’re not healthy, it means you can’t move normally,” says Brunstrom, who has CP herself. “You can have CP and still be really physically fit and lead the best possible life. Given the chance, these patients can grow up to have successful careers, get married, have children and so on. They can even become physicians.”