Today kicked off the not only the 2nd World Parkinson Congress (WPC) program – e.g., presentations about the latest Parkinson’s research and care – but also the scientific and lay poster sessions.
Most scientific meetings include posters by scientists, which summarize their most recent experiments. The WPC is unique because, alongside the scientific display, it features “Living with PD” posters. These posters display efforts undertaken by people with Parkinson’s disease, care partners and voluntary organizations around the world to further the cause.
PDF is proud to report that two of its Clinical Research Learning Institute graduates (who also serve as WPC reporters) presented posters about their work in the community. Today, they stood by their posters discussing their work with people from all over the world. They both chatted with us briefly during this time. Here’s a synopsis:
Yoga Teacher Training for Students with Parkinson’s Disease
(LeVerrier, R.; Rork DeAngelis, T; Thomas, CA (United States))
About Renee’s Poster: As Renee says, “Yoga is becoming increasingly popular among all people, and people with Parkinson’s. For me, the focus is on making sure that yoga teachers know how to work with people with Parkinson’s, because it is different.” She and her co-authors identified a need in the Parkinson’s community for yoga instructors knowledgeable in disease who could tailor their teaching to its special needs. In this vein, Renee created a collaborative model for health care professionals to teach yoga instructors about Parkinson’s. She has already conducted two workshops and 40 instructors have been trained.
Diane G. Cook
Addressing the Needs of Newly Diagnosed PD Patients: Development of a Model Curriculum (Cook, DG; Vierck, E (United States))
About Diane’s Poster: Diane’s poster discusses strategies that she has used to address the needs of people newly diagnosed with PD. She has done this within her own support group, using surveys to monitor what information people are looking for and planning a formal curriculum accordingly. Several of her leading topics include nonmotor symptoms of PD. She hopes to make this curriculum a prototype that others could use. Diane says of her experience today,
“My experience in presenting is that much of the value of the conference takes place in the discussions held in front of our posters and in the booths, where common experiences are shared and cards are exchanged to continue the dialogue. There is a fierce sense of collaboration!”
Congratulations to Renee and Diane. We’ll update you tomorrow on other CRLI presenters.