* CARBON COPY:
 * Original was to BARBARA PATTERSON in 9-I_EMAIL on the OLN BBS.
 
To whom it may concern:
could somebody please make sure this report is posted for all to see?
Thank you!
 
Peter VanderKam
 
 
Report on the Parkinson conference held on Oct 20/95 in Toronto.
 
This conference commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Parkinson's
foundation of Canada and I feel priviliged to have been among the
participants celebrating this special event.
 
The experience of being part of a crowd of about 120 participants from
all over Canada, all striving toward the same goal and all looking for
and often finding familiar ground was inspiring, to say te least.
 
 
My co-delegate Margaret And I shared a room in the Metropolitan Hotel,
where the conference was held.  his was recommended to us by more
experienced participants, and their advice proved to be invaluable.
After all, starting with our 8:00 am breakfast, all we had to do was
step off the elevator and we were right on the spot. If and when we ran
out of energy, all it took was a quick nap in our room upstairs, to
renew our resources and be bright and bushy-tailed for the next session.
 
The sessions were interesting and plentiful, to name a few: Dr Anthony
Graham: "Leading a volunteer Organization into the 20th Century; Dr John
Wherrett: "30 Years : Great Changes, Great Accomplishments, Great
Challenges"; Dr Ronald Tasker: "Parkinsonm's, we have come a long way".
Then there were the Plenary sessions for delegates from Parkinson's
Chapters, self-help groups and affiliates, attracting a great deal of
attention.
 
Hoqweve, the sessions that caught my special interest were the "small
group discussions with professional facilitators". These discussion
groups were divided into:
1) 55+ newly diagnosed (within the lsst 2 years)
2) Young onset (under 55 at daignosis)
3) The "long-timers"
4) Spousal care partners
5) Family and "interested others"
 
The 5 delegates from Thunder Bay (5 volunteers among whom 3 patients)
all found their own "niche" in these discussions and I joined group
1: 55+: newly diagnosed.
 
This group was definitely the noisiest bunch at the conference, as we
started out with a game balancing coins between every two persons in
the group. This not only broke the ice, but raised eyebrows from the
other groups in the hall, who later asked us why there was so much
laughter coming from our corner.
 
However, the discussions that followed were more serious, giving
everyone a change to talk about the dagnosis of Parkinson's in their
lives, the feelings of shock and disbelief, the depression, the
anger, in short a full range of emotions.
 
The experiences of two participnts stand out in my mind: One person
made it very clear to all of us, that the anger had taken over and
that his present existence consisted of one question: " Why me?"
 
The other participant was maybe a little older and her feelings were
more resolved. She reported and acceptance of the fact, that she had
lived a full and gratifying life, and that this new development was
just another challenge on her road to growth and maturity.
 
Of course most cases are not as black and white as reported above.
This was reinforced by the fact, that at the end of this session most
people lingered and got into more discussions and private exchanges of
experiences. A very useful and meaningful session.
 
The agenda for Saturday and Sunday also showed positive learning
experiences for people living with Parkinsons. Much emphasis was
directed towards exercise, be it the "general kind", Tai Chi or Yoga,
all helpful and beneficial. Several demonstrations were given and
people could be found on the conference floor doing stretching
exercises and/or shoulder rolls.
 
One more item should be mentioned, namely the superior quality of
Bookds, Video's and Pamphlets, Research Exhibits, Health Products
information and Display of Volunteer Projects. It was quite obvious
that a lot of work had gone into this conference.
 
On a personal note: To my surprise I noticed at one of the booths a
very attractive booklet, written in Dutch. It was all about th
Patkinson Superwalk held on September 24/95 in Toronto as well as in
the Netherlands. As there was only 1 Dutch copy of this booklet left,
I left my name and address with the friendly people at the booth,
which resulted in the booklet being mailed to me within 10 days!
z  [ Continued In Next Message... ]