A list member (CARE) has sent this story--you will recognise some names mentioned herein! *********** >Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 14:18:48 -0500 (EST) >From: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Fwd: Fw: www.timesnews.net story from Louise Wheeler >To: [log in to unmask] >MIME-version: 1.0 >Original-recipient: rfc822;[log in to unmask] > >Thought you might find this interesting. > >D. > >>The introduction to the story and a link to the full story follow: >> >>------------------------------------------------------------- >>JOHNSON CITY - NET CREATES COMMUNITY OF CAREGIVERS, PATIENTS >> >>JOHNSON CITY — Ryan Tripp drove to East Tennessee from Ontario, >>Canada, and stopped to see a friend every “five hours or so.’’ >>But not just any friends — all are people he met on the Internet >>who, like himself, are living with Parkinson’s disease. >>Tripp has been living with Parkinson’s for more than 10 years. >>But it was just last spring that he became part of a global community >>dealing with the same things he was — medically, mentally and >>socially. >>“In seven months my life has been transformed,’’ he said. >>Tripp is one of 70,000 Internet users each week to look at more >>than 1 million pages of information in the “patient communities” >>at www.braintalk.org — a site created by John Lester, information >>system director of the neurology department at Massachusetts >>General Hospital and research associate at Harvard Medical School. >>Lester created the site to provide support and information to >>200 different “communities’’ for neurological disorders. >>“The Internet is about conversations and the community that grows >>out of that,’’ he said. >>Lester was in Johnson City this week to speak to the East Tennessee >>Parkinson’s Disease Support Group — at the invitation of a “cyber >>friend,” Peggy Willocks, president of the group. >>Also in town were Tripp and Sandy Norris, who know Willocks and >>Lester through the forums. >>“These people started relationships on the Web and are now meeting >>in the physical world,’’ Lester said. >>Lester has been interested in the Internet since its inception. >>Also being a medical researcher, Lester began to watch, and what >>he found out was patients and caregivers were the “real pioneers’’ >>of Internet use. >>“So I decided I would try to build a place for communities to >>grow and live online,’’ he said. >>Many things have resulted from the site that began on Lester’s >>desktop computer, including friendships, advocacy groups and >>research. >>People Living With Parkinson’s (PLWP) is one example. >>A group of patients met in the forums on the braintalk site and >>decided to organize themselves as an advocacy group — with Lester >>and television star and Parkinson’s patient Michael J. Fox on >>its board of directors. >>“This represents the future of how patients and caregivers can >>be empowered in a totally new way,’’ Lester said. >>In less than a year PLWP has international members, has been >>advocating for research funding in Washington, D.C., and participated >>in a Parkinson’s Unity Walk in New York City, he added. >>Lester said the speed of the information and the immediate accessibility >>of support often means the only interaction for some patients >>who live by themselves and can’t leave their homes. >>“These online communities have saved lives,’’ he said. “I see >>it every day.’’ >>When patients are depressed or threaten to hurt themselves, Lester >>is paged and can trace the phone call and get emergency service >>to the home. >>There are some “challenges’’ in running such a project, Lester >>said. >>Funding is hard to come by. When Lester recently updated his >>equipment, it was through $5 donations from thousands of Internet >>users that resulted in nearly $20,000. >>“But these people are not the people that need to be paying for >>it — many of them are living on Social Security and suffering,’’ >>said Lester, explaining that he is working to get pharmaceutical >>companies or other corporations to fund the project. >>Getting the support of the medical community is another challenge. >>“Ninety-nine percent of the medical community doesn’t get it,’’ >>Lester said. >>He said medical professionals should view the Internet as an >>opportunity to work as a team with their patients and not as >>a threat. >>Regardless of challenges, the project is changing lives. >>“You feel more alive,’’ said Norris, who has been living with >>Parkinson’s since age 20. “I no longer feel as if I’m existing >>with PD, but that I’m living with PD and coping and helping others >>to do the same.’’ >> >> CLICK HERE to add your thoughts, observations, congratulations >>or criticisms of this story in a Village Voices discussion group. >> CLICK HERE to write a letter to the editor. >> © 2000 Times-News. All rights reserved. This material may >>not be broadcast, published, rewritten or redistributed. >> >>------------------------------------------------------------- >> >>Read the full story at: >>http://www.timesnews.net/?CONTEXT=cat&id=38994&category=107&ets=1 >> >>If you have any questions regarding this service, please mail >><mailto:[log in to unmask]>. > Camilla Flintermann, CG for Peter 82/70/55 Oxford, Ohio <[log in to unmask]> on the web at http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/genugten/flinterm.htm and also at http://www.geocities.com/camillahf/index.html "Ask me about the CARE list for Caregivers of Parkinsonians ! " And visit the CARE webring at http://www.crosswinds.net/~caregivers/index.html