Check This Out! Music Therapy Movement Program Designed For Persons With Parkinson’s

Come experience our therapeutic Music Therapy Movement Program

for persons with Parkinson’s disease!

This is an integrative Music Therapy movement program is specifically designed to address symptoms

of Parkinson’s disease and also other neurologic movement disorders.

This integrative program is based on research and experience designed to help:

improve balance, improve fine/gross motor coordination,

stimulate initiation of movement, reduce rigidity, help improve & coordinate walking gait

and arm swing, and enhance your social support system!

When: Every Friday from 11:15 to 12:15

Where: The Center for Creative Release on 212 Third Ave. (between Thomasville Rd. and North Monroe)

http://thecenterforcreativerelease.com/

How much: FREE for first class!  $3 per class thereafter ($12 monthly package)

Instructor: Peyton Davis, MT, LNMT; mmpd3@hotmail.com

**Caretakers and family members are welcome to participate in the fun!!

This week:

We are continuing our ballroom dance series and have been having a great time!!

This will continue through the middle of August.

We are fortunate to have Kyle, a professional ballroom dance instructor teaching us beginning skills in foxtrot, waltz, box step, rumba, and tango!

Whether you love to dance or think you lack rhythm…

come surprise yourself at how your body learns to adapt and move!

No prior experience is required to participate!  Just come and have a great time!

1.  All movement activities are matched to the specific rhythms and carefully selected music to enhance the initiation and  coordination of movement.

2.  Activities begin with simple, isolated movements to prepare for adaptable, complex movements.

3.  All activities are adapted to meet the movement level and skills of each person!

4.  AND…WE HAVE A LOT OF FUN!!!!!

Guest instructors are integrated in parts of the class to provide expert guidance

in stretching, formal ballroom dancing, elements of tai chi/qi gong.

Guest instructors: Kyle (Professional Ballroom Dance instructor)

Rose (Yoga Instructor, Personal Trainer)

Louise (Qi Gong Instructor)

Read Full Post »

The Health Care Reform Bill Handling Of Retirees

Dear friends:

The enclosed message is disturbing to say the least.  Particularly with our ages and PD conditions in mind, please take the time to be informed of the ramifications of the Health Care Reform Bill.  I believe you will, as I am, completely shocked that such a discussion could be taking place in our country.

Incidentally, after I expressed concern last week to Congressman Bill Nelson, he replied by  correspondence that he is fully endorsing this bill……………………  I wonder if it is ANOTHER bill that the congress has not taken the time to read?

Pat

— ______________________________

__

From
Subject:Fw: Page 425 of Health Care Bill

Everyone must read the message below and please listen to the Fred Thompson interview. Facts about the Health Care Bill are revealed on the interview that you haven’t heard on television or  the presidents speech this past week. This is not a spin story, but real facts. Please read and listen to the interview and e-mail it on. THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ALL OF US !!!!!!!!!!

Subject: Page 425 of Health Care Bill

This indeed takes a shot at retirees–we cannot let this happen to us–tell all your friends by voice, email, phone or letter that it is totally unacceptible!!!!!!
This is unbelievable. I already called AARP to ask them why they represent us and support this house bill. Believe it or not this organization does not have an e-mail contact that you can register your comment. You can either call or post your comment and mail it to them.
http://fredthompsonshow.com/premiumstream?dispid=320&headerDest=L3BnL2pzcC9tZWRpYS9mbGFzaHdlbGNvbWUuanNwP3BpZD03MzUxJnBsYXlsaXN0PXRydWUmY2hhcnR0eXBlPWNoYXJ0JmNoYXJ0SUQ9MzIwJnBsYXlsaXN0U2l6ZT01

>  Page 425 of Health Care Bill – Listen to this interview Fred Thompson’s Radio Show interviewing20Betsy McCaughey (pronounced Mc Coy).  Or look it up on www.fredthompsonshow.com, under interviews.
> On page 425 it says in black and white that EVERYONE on Social Security, (will include all Senior Citizens and SSI people) will go to MANDATORY counseling every 5 years to learn and to choose from ways to end your suffering (and your life).  Health care will be denied based on age.  $500 Billion will be cut from Seniors healthcare.   The only way for that to happen is to drastically cut health care, the oldest and the sickest will be cut first.   Paying for your own care will not be an=2 0option.
>Now, CALL YOUR PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!  Tell them to read page 425 if they don’t read anything else.  Surely  some of them have parents.
>
>”ON PAGE 425 OF OBAMA’S HEALTH CARE BILL, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier. Yes…They are going to push SUICIDE to cut medicare spending!”
>
>Fred Thompson: Interviews
>
>(BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE ABOVE LINE!)

Read Full Post »

Announcing The Young Onset Parkinson Conference

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN !

Conference Fee: $30 (includes Evening Welcome Reception, Breakfast, and Lunch)

For more details click here

Read Full Post »

With a heavy heart…

Kathy Wooten, a dear friend and founding member of the North Florida Parkinsons Awareness Group has passed. Kathy was an inspiration to us all and we all have fond memories of the times we spent with her. I implore you to share your memories in the comment section located at the bottom of this post.

Kathryn Blackburn Wooten went home to be with the Lord on Monday, February 23, 2009, after a long and courageous battle with Multiple System Atrophy. She passed away at home surrounded by family and friends, thanks to the loving care of Big Bend Hospice. Funeral service will be held 11 a.m. EST Thursday, February 26, in Culley’s MeadowWood Funeral Home, Riggins Road Chapel (850-877-8191), with interment to follow in Woodville Cemetery. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. EST Wednesday in the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Big Bend Hospice, 1723 Mahan Center Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32308, or the North Florida Parkinson’s Awareness Group, C/o Steve Sandler, President, NFPAG, 803 Chestwood Ave., Tallahassee, FL 32303. She was born in Waycross, Ga., on April 3, 1949, and moved to Tallahassee at the age of five. She was a class of 1967 graduate of Leon High School and attended Tallahassee Community College. She became a certified legal assistant and certified paralegal. She worked for the Leon County Court and the Second Judicial Court of the State of Florida, retiring after 33 years as judicial assistant. The last 17 years was spent working for the Honorable Judge John E. Crusoe. Kathy was active in Judicial Assistants Association for many years. Kathy was also an active member of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority. She was dearly loved by her sorority sisters who stood by her throughout her illness. Kathy helped in organizing the North Florida Parkinson Association as a charter member and serving as the first vice president.She remained active until the very end. She was also active in the North Florida Parkinson Choir and performed at many of the nursing homes and hospitals in the area and was an active member of the Tallahassee Woman’s Club. She is survived by her husband of 38 years, William R. Wooten Jr., and two daughters, Amy W. Hattaway (and husband Bill) and Melanie W. Dobbs (and husband Jeremy). She is also survived by two grandchildren who were the love of her life, William (Wiley) Hattaway and Grace (Gracie) Marie Dobbs; two brothers, Herbert C. Blackburn (and wife Carolyn) and Theron ( Bud) H. Blackburn (and wife Sharon); one sister, Rebecca Christine Blackburn; very close cousin, Joanne Louise Urban; her loving brothers-in-law, Robert I. Wooten (and wife Wilma) and Brian Carl Wooten (and wife Carol); and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, cousins; and a host of friends.

Read Full Post »

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!

We have all been told or have heard other talking about the importance of exercise for Parkinon’s patients. The following are a few videos of a man with PD who has posted his exercise for other to gain some benefit from. Take a look at the videos and see if you find something that might work for you. If you do see something good here, share it with us and let us know how it has helped you.

If you have your own exercise routine or have a few exercises that you really benefit from, share them here and let us all have the opportunity to try them out!

 Part #1

 Part #2

 Part #3

Part #4

Part #5

Part #6

Read Full Post »

Senate Committee is Considering Defense Spending Bill!

Ask Your Senators Today to Support DoD Parkinson’s Research!

This morning, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee marked up the Defense spending bill.  The full Appropriations Committee plans to take up the Defense spending bill Wednesday.  The bill sets the funding levels for all Defense programs, including the Parkinson’s disease research program, Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment Research Program (NETRP).  With your help, we hope to make this year an historic one by securing NETRP Parkinson’s disease research funding in the Senate Defense Appropriations bill for the first time.  As you may know, PAN advocates and our congressional champions have successfully secured NETRP funding each year for ten years through the U.S. House of Representatives version of the Defense bill, but NETRP has never been funded in the Senate bill.  Please take a few minutes to e-mail your senators now to ask they support this essential Parkinson’s disease research! Although the Senate has yet to fund Parkinson’s disease research directly in the Senate Defense bill, they have agreed with their congressional colleagues in conference committee each year that this important research must be funded.  In fact, sixteen senators have already expressed their support for NETRP in April of this year.  Let’s encourage our senators to stand up for Parkinson’s disease research from day one by including Parkinson’s funding directly in the Senate Defense bill!

Read Full Post »

Ibuprofen may curb risk of Parkinson’s disease

The following story was found at http://www.spiritindia.com/health-care-news-articles-1590.html

Regular use of the pain-relieving nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) may delay or prevent the onset of Parkinson’s disease, according to data from roughly 147,000 U.S. men and women enrolled in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutritional Cohort.

In 1992, subjects provided information on four types of commonly used analgesics. In 2001, they provided information on the occurrence of Parkinson’s disease. The researchers detected 413 cases of Parkinson’s disease during follow up.

“We found that individuals who regularly used ibuprofen had about a 35 percent lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than non-users,” Dr. Alberto Ascherio, of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, told.

Specifically, compared to those who did not use NSAIDs, users of 2 to 7 ibuprofen tablets per week had about a 28 percent reduced relative risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, while those who reported using 1 or more tablets per day had a 38 percent reduced risk of Parkinson’s.

No associations were observed between the risk of PD and the use of aspirin, other NSAIDs, or acetaminophen.

“These findings suggest that ibuprofen could contribute to the prevention of Parkinson’s disease,” Ascherio said. “Because of the progressive nature of the degenerative process, it is also possible that this drug could be beneficial for individuals with Parkinson’s, but this should be tested in randomized clinical trials.”

“It would be premature for people with Parkinson’s disease to start taking ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatory drugs,” Ascherio cautioned. “Albeit promising, these findings are insufficient to support a change in current therapeutical practice.”

Read Full Post »