Health / Wellness

Cerebral Palsy Outreach Network - CPON

The Cerebral Palsy Outreach Network is an Internet resource for children with cerebral palsy and their families. Its mission is to help families connect to needed services, to provide scientific information to families on new treatments for CP, and to develop research on the causes and management of cerebral palsy. CPON also wants to link people with cerebral palsy and their families with each other.

With funding from the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Education Foundation, CPON is creating a web-based information service in Mid-Michigan first and hopes in the future to expand to the rest of Michigan. CPON is headed by Nigel Paneth, M.D., MPH, chair of the Department of Epidemiology of Michigan State University. UCP Michigan is serving as a member of the CPON Team, where it has been advising the project on issues of concern to people with cerebral palsy.

The goal of the Web site is to provide accurate and up-to-date medical and scientific information about cerebral palsy and to provide links to available services and resources. It is meant to help families sort through the maze of information and misinformation about cerebral palsy that is available on the Internet and from other sources.

One aspect of CPON is very unique – it offers free Internet access to families of children with cerebral palsy who wish to participate in the Network. Signing up for the Network involves no obligation whatsoever, although people who do sign up will be given the opportunity to participate in research about cerebral palsy should they wish to. Participants will NOT be pressured to participate in research.

Some people may have concerns about privacy since signing up for the Network involves being part of a computer network. CPON users have the benefit of the latest technology available for maintaining privacy while using the internet.

You can reach CPON through its Web site: http://www.epi.msu.edu/cpon/index.htm. If you have additional questions, call Madeline Lenski at CPON, (517) 353-8623, Ext. 145.

updated November, 2004