Hi Alison!

I've been meaning to get in touch with you.  I presented the bacteria theory
at my last visit to Emory, but Dr. Ray Watts, my regular neuro, had moved to
Alabama.  The new doctor only spent a few minutes with me.  I will try to
get the contact info for Dr. Watts.

In the meantime, I wonder if your friend has looked into the Fast Track
grants at the Fox Fdn.
http://www.michaeljfox.org/news/pressrelease.php?id=70

Hope you & sister are doing well.  I think Mort has abandoned me - nothing
in months!

Peggy  <*]]><
"Where there is no vision, the people perish."
--Proverb


----- Original Message -----
From: "Alison Landes" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 9:57 AM
Subject: Re: ARTICLE: Parkinson's Patients Find Simple Exercise is Often The
Best Medi...


> Hi Murray,
> Thank you for reprinting this article. It just came out in today's paper.
> Another article came out last week in the Boca Raton Times and Boca Raton
West.
> Cindy, has been volunteering with us for over a year and several months
ago
> volunteered to do an exercise class, which she does professionally, for us
that
> meets twice a week.  We will be paying her to lead 4 other classes, as the
> one class has been well received. We want to keep the classes small so she
can
> individualize.  We invite caregivers to participate and that has worked
out
> very well.  The group is in a circle, there's lots of eye contact and
interaction
> and wonderful rapport with the instructor, Cindy.
>
> We have several exciting things coming up over the next several months...
> some of which can be implemented on a national level.  We've got the word
out for
> a volunteer to help with updating our web site so we can get the
information
> updated more timely.
>
> Thank you and as mentioned before, welcome back.
>
> Alison Landes
> Founder/ President
> Take Charge! Cure Parkinson's, Inc.
> 1489 W. Palmetto Park Road  Suite 442
> Boca Raton, Florida  33486
> Tel: 561.620.1970
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> www.cureparkinsons.org
>
>
>
> In a message dated 8/20/2003 8:48:44 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
> > Subj:ARTICLE: Parkinson's Patients Find Simple Exercise is Often The
Best
> > Medicine
> > Date:8/20/2003 8:48:44 AM Eastern Daylight Time
> > From:<A
HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A>
> > Reply-to:<A
HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A>
> > To:<A
HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A
>
> > Sent from the Internet
> >
> >
> >
> > Parkinson's patients find simple exercise is often the best medicine
> >
> > By Diane C. Lade
> > Staff writer
> > Posted August 20 2003
> >
> > Boca Raton · They march around a circle of chairs swinging their arms,
then
> > they stop and tap their toes to one side
> > then the other.
> >
> > Sure, it seems simple. But for patients with Parkinson's, a neurological
> > disorder that can make it impossible to hold a
> > pen, being able to move with confidence is the equivalent of crossing
the
> > finish line.
> >
> > "My balance is much better," says Shirley Hirstein, 74. She parks her
cane
> > under her folding chair and doesn't pick it
> > up once during the one-hour exercise class held twice weekly in the
> > gymnasium of Sugar Sands Park.
> >
> > Olie Fernald decided to give the workout a try when he noticed his leg
> > muscles and left arm weakening; he is sure he
> > has seen an improvement.
> >
> > "And his posture is so much better," says his wife, Jeanne. She's one of
> > several family members who has joined
> > relatives in the class, where the patients range in age from 40s to 70s.
> >
> > Basic exercise for Parkinson's patients often takes a back seat,
clinicians
> > have found, as treatments focus on drug
> > therapies or pioneering procedures such as deep-brain stimulation, which
> > plants an electronic device in a patient's
> > brain. There is no cure for the disease, caused by the degeneration of
nerve
> > cells in the brain and affecting about one
> > out of every 200 people.
> >
> > Doctors might order short-term speech or physical therapy shortly after
a
> > Parkinson's diagnosis, as the disease twists
> > and stiffens muscles so patients shuffle or have trouble speaking
clearly.
> > But insurance coverage for therapy usually
> > quickly runs out, the patients say.
> >
> > Medicare, which covers Americans age 65 and older, is supposed to
institute
> > a $1,590 annual limit for speech and
> > physical therapies combined beginning Sept. 1, unless sessions are in
> > hospitals or their outpatient clinics.
> >
> > Yet a simple routine including walking, strength training and stretching
can
> > keep Parkinson's patients healthier and
> > happier, those who work with them insist.
> >
> > "The group that exercises has the least motor fluctuations and take the
> > least amount of medications," said Carol
> > Eickhorn, coordinator of the Debby Sanderson National Parkinson's
Disease
> > Foundation Care Center at North Ridge Medical
> > Center in Fort Lauderdale. The center, sponsored by the Florida
Department
> > of Health, has offered a twice-weekly
> > exercise group since it opened five years ago.
> >
> > Eickhorn attended a symposium last year where Janet Reno, the former
U.S.
> > attorney general and Florida gubernatorial
> > candidate who has Parkinson's, talked about how she still loved kayaking
and
> > her daily walk.
> >
> > "We are high believers in exercise and we make sure they are moving,"
> > Eickhorn said. "I can't prove it on paper that it
> > works, but I see it."
> >
> > Cindy Brooks, the certified health-fitness instructor leading the Boca
Raton
> > classes, says several of the group members
> > now can get through a session without their walkers or canes. "I've seen
> > huge differences just in their confidence,"
> > said Brooks, who is volunteering her time to Take Charge! Cure
Parkinson's,
> > which sponsors the classes.
> >
> > Alison Landes of Boca Raton founded the nonprofit group in 1999 after
her
> > younger sister, Fran, was diagnosed with
> > Parkinsons in her 40s.
> >
> > "For years, we tried to find out what was wrong with Fran and everyone
kept
> > telling her she was fine," said Landes, who
> > wants Take Charge! fund-raisers to raise money for research and
educating
> > others about the disease. "I want to do
> > something to help find a cure."
> >
> > She started the Sugar Sand class five months ago and hopes to add an
extra
> > twice-weekly exercise classes in September,
> > as well as eventually expand into other Palm Beach and Broward county
> > community centers.
> >
> > So far, there has been no major research looking at the effect of
exercise
> > on Parkinson's, said Dr. Bernard Ravina, a
> > program director with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and
> > Stroke.
> >
> > But participants in what few studies have been done did say exercise
kept
> > them mobile, allowing them to continue
> > routine activities such as cooking and caring for themselves, said
Ravina,
> > who works with clinical trials. "But if they
> > stop exercising, the benefit wears off quickly," he said. "So they need
to
> > continue."
> >
> > Ravina also thinks exercise groups benefit patients in different ways
than
> > support groups do, and that working out
> > together can bond them closely.
> >
> > A real estate executive who had loved tennis and biking, Fran Landes
today
> > concentrates on keeping her handwriting
> > legible and her steps steady. She attends the Take Charge! exercise
class,
> > and just being with the others makes her
> > feel less alone.
> >
> > "Support groups are good, but it's nice to do something besides sitting
and
> > talking," she said.
> >
> > Diane C. Lade can be reached at [log in to unmask] or 561-243-6618.
> >
> > SOURCE: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fl
> > http://tinyurl.com/kl8i
> >
>
>
>
>
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