Epilepsy Center

Name: Kootenai Health
Price range: $

Epilepsy evaluation at the cutting edge. And the only of its kind in the region.

Epilepsy Center

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Advanced monitoring and treatment to understand and manage seizure activity.

Living with seizures brings many questions. Usually starting with "why." A standard EEG captures a single moment. Finding answers often takes days of continuous monitoring. Kootenai Health’s Level 3 Epilepsy Center is the region’s most advanced destination for high-level seizure evaluation and treatment.

Our Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) is a dedicated inpatient environment where brain activity is closely monitored for several days. That longer-term picture of brain activity lets our team identify exactly where seizures start and whether what’s happening is actually epilepsy at all. That distinction can change what treatment looks like.

When seizures don't respond to medication, there are more options than most people realize. Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS)—available only at Kootenai Health in Idaho—detects and interrupts seizures at their source in real time. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) are also available, giving patients access to the full spectrum of neurostimulation therapies in one program.

Level 3 Epilepsy Center

Highest level of epilepsy evaluation in the region

Designed for seizures that are hard to diagnose, hard to control, or both.

Only ABRET-accredited lab in Idaho

National standards for neurodiagnostic testing

The next closest accredited lab is in Seattle. Every test here meets a nationally verified standard for accuracy.

Advanced Seizure Treatment

Only in Idaho to offer RNS

RNS detects abnormal brain activity and responds in real time—available only here for patients whose seizures haven't responded to medication.

“What we have available here in North Idaho rivals almost anything you could have performed in an academic center in a big city.”

— Cliff Hampton, M.D. - Neurologist and Epilepsy Specialist

What to Expect

How We Identify the Source of Seizures

Advanced monitoring may be recommended through the inpatient Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU), which allows your care team to observe and gather seizure data activity in a controlled, safe environment during a three-to-five day stay.

Step 1: Admission and Preparation

Your care team reviews your history, prepares for continuous observation, and explains what to expect.

The Epilepsy Center is located on the third floor of Kootenai Health in the newly constructed 3 East unit. Four rooms designed specifically for epilepsy monitoring patients.

Before building the unit, a team of Kootenai Health neurology experts and nursing leadership traveled to Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona to study how one of the country's leading epilepsy centers operates. That visit shaped the design, workflow, and safety features built into every aspect of this unit.

Step 2: Continuous Monitoring

Electrodes placed on the scalp record brain activity continuously. Unlike an MRI or CT scan—which captures images of brain anatomy—an EEG measures how the brain is functioning in real time, when you're awake, asleep or having a seizure. Trained staff monitors those patterns around the clock throughout your stay.

Step 3: Capturing Seizure Activity

Medications may be carefully adjusted to help provoke seizure activity in a controlled setting to identify precisely where seizures originate and what's driving them. The results determine the treatment path forward.

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Inside the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit

Trained staff monitor patients around the clock in rooms created for seizure evaluation. Patients can move freely throughout their stay using the Liko Lift harness system—ceiling-mounted tracks that keep them supported at all times. If a seizure occurs, the harness prevents falling and can return the patient safely to bed. These safety protocols are modeled after Mayo Clinic’s epilepsy program.

Watch how EEG monitoring works in Kootenai Health's Epilepsy Monitoring Unit

Treatment Options

Who Is This For?

For patients whose seizures are not controlled with medication alone, advanced treatment options are available. These therapies are coordinated between neurology and neurosurgery to determine the most appropriate approach for each patient.

Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS)

A surgically implanted device that continuously monitors brain activity and delivers targeted stimulation to interrupt seizures in real time. Kootenai Health was the first in Idaho to offer RNS—and remains the only program in the region providing this treatment.

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

DBS uses a small implanted device to deliver targeted electrical pulses that interrupt the abnormal brain signals that cause seizures, helping prevent them in cases where medications alone aren't enough.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)

Sends mild electrical signals through the vagus nerve to help reduce the frequency and intensity of seizures over time—a less invasive option for some people.