New epilepsy clinic in Baton Rouge transforms care opportunities for children with seizures

On the fourth floor of Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital — past blue and white walls designed with underwater bubbles and waves — a new medical clinic treats children at their most vulnerable: the pediatric epilepsy monitoring unit, located between the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units.

In the late nights and the early mornings, at least four lab techs at the unit are tracking brain waves on glowing screens and monitoring patients in their beds from overhead cameras. They are watching rows of hundreds of steady lines, waiting for the moment the electrical activity in the brain becomes excessive and chaotic.

"When our team does an EEG, right away we can see the brain discharges and diagnose patients. And treat them, too," said Dr. Yash Shah.

Shah, an epileptologist and d