An Opportunity to Meet, Move and Learn

I am still soaring from the weekend at the 6^th Annual Southeastern Parkinson Disease Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Organized by the National Parkinson Foundation/Georgia, the conference was from October 14-16, 2011. While I’ve attended many Parkinson’s conferences, this one was particularly meaningful.

It was a conference planned by persons with Parkinson’s, geared to persons with Parkinson’s and their care partners. It wasn’t a conference planned by doctors who spoke condescendingly to Parkinson’s patients. We were all the same.

It was a conference where the attendees were from all walks of life (including doctors who’ve had to quit their practices because of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s), and persons of all ages and stages of the disease.

It was a conference that was considerate of its participants, scheduling half hour breaks between presentations to move around and socialize, and provided a night owl suite from 9 PM to 8 AM with snacks, cards and board games for those with Parkinson’s unable to sleep. It was a conference that was FUN--Imagine that!

Dressing up in costumes of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s and dancing to the music of earlier eras gave us the opportunity to feel normal and escape Parkinson’s, even if only for several hours.

It was a conference that oozed of hospitality with its smiling participants with southern drawls and food and comfortable hotel rooms.

It was a conference that provided a wonderful opportunity to learn. Three of my favorite presentations, all involving audience participation, were:

Dance and Movement by Pamela Quinn http://pamelaquinn.net/press/the-magic-of-dance-for-parkinsons

Voice Aerobics by Mary Spremulli http://www.voiceaerobicsdvd.com/

Movement, Music and PD by Matthew Ford http://www.uab.edu/pt/faculty/11-faculty/7-matthewford and

http://blog.al.com/living-news/2009/04/fighting_parkinsons_disease_wi.html

All three presentations reinforced the themes to keep moving, get out there and do something that you enjoy, and if it’s FUN, you will more likely continue.

In other words, the weekend was PURR-FECT.

To learn more about this conference, check out their website at:
http://www.gaparkinsons.org/

 

Comments

[linda Morgan]

Great to see you Kate! Wasn't the conference amazing! And James does this every year! Pam was great, wasn't she?! I've been to a lot of conferences, she gets it spot on!Hope to see you at the next one!!

[Betsy]

Sign me up for next year! Betsy

[Jerricho Cothery]

My symptoms started at the age of 33. My fingers on my left hand were stiff and were difficult to move. People noticed that my walk was not normal. I was often asked did I hurt. I noticed nothing different about my walk. It was difficult getting up from` a chair and getting out of a car. I was diagnosed a year later. I am now 59. With new medicine in recent years, I feel better now than I have felt since I was diagnosed. Having PD has changed my life drastically, but I am coping.