Pamela A. Cazzolli, RN
ALS Nurse Consultant and Director

  • Founded ALS Care Project in July, 2000, to continue clinical care research on use of noninvasive and invasive breathing support for ALS patients in the home setting and to pursue education (on evidence-based care and experience) for achieving best practices of ALS care in the community.  The project evolved from recognizing that best practices of respiratory care were either absent or minimal in the literature, resulting in the high prevalence of avoidable complications, emergency hospitalizations, and unwanted outcomes in people with ALS.    

  • Nurse investigator of ALS patients using noninvasive ventilation and invasive ventilation in the community-based settings in OH, WV, and western PA (1990-2020); and developed the validated Oral Section Scale, published in the Respiratory Care journal (2020);   

  • Served as the Epidemiology Nurse Coordinator (Ohio) in collaboration with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon, New Hampshire) and the Center for ALS and Related Disorders (Cleveland Clinic) in the studies of risk factors for ALS (2017-2022) and the Ohio ALS Registry Study (2017-2019);

  • Member of the American Association of Respiratory Care (since 2000); attending  many of the annual conferences until 2019;

  • Member of the American College of Chest Physicians (since 1999); attending most of the annual conferences until 2018; 

  • Serves on the Advisory Board of the Respiratory Care Department at Stark State College, North Canton, OH;

  • Attended the majority of the annual International Symposiums on ALS/MND since 1993; and through the years, provided numerous platform and poster presentations, including presentations at the annual Allied Professional Forums.

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​Early Roles in the ALS Care Mission
 

  • First Nurse Coordinator of the ALSA Center at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (1989-1995);

  • Co-organizer of the ALS Association Eastern Ohio Chapter (August 2, 1988), now the Northern Ohio Chapter;

  • Served as the ALS Nurse Consultant of the ALS Association Chapter in northeast Ohio (1988-2000); 

  • Began as Nurse Facilitator of the Canton ALS Support Group (March, 1984), the newly formed program of the former Visiting Nurse Society of Central Stark County, sponsored by the United Way; and met social worker, Joan C. Warren, MSW of the VNS, pioneer of the ALS support group in Canton (July 1983).    Beginning in 1984, Cazzolli and Warren facilitated the ALS support group in Canton OH, bi-monthly on Sundays for 24 consecutive years.  

  • Advisory Board Member of the Stark County Neuromuscular Association (1984-1986)

  • Education:  Mercy Hospital School of Nursing (Canton, OH), Kent State University, University of Akron;