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Southwest Florida: Group Tries To Salvage Parkinson’s Program Many families can’t afford class without grant By PEDRO MORALES, [log in to unmask] Published by news-press.com on August 1, 2004 He logged more than 27,000 hours in the sky over 34 years before Parkinson’s disease made life an uphill battle. When Ivan Escott, 84, began going to the Millennium House in Bonita Springs in January, the former Pan-Am pilot thought he would lose some of his privacy and independence. Instead, he grew to love the place and the people. On June 30, the state medical grant ended that had allowed him and eight other families to go there twice a week free of costs. Many of his friends couldn’t afford to remain at the adult-care program. “Luckily, we are in a position where we can pay out of our pockets, but a lot of families can’t afford it,” said Escott’s daughter, Margot, of North Naples. “I think he’s been stabilized. I think he’d be much worse if he hadn’t gone there.” The Parkinson’s Association of Southwest Florida is now seeking funds so that it can continue to give families free care at the Millennium House. They said the state grant was an invaluable service for people afflicted with Parkinson’s and their caregivers. “This program has put off for a longer time someone having to go into a nursing home,” said Jacque Urso, the association’s executive director. “The caregiver doesn’t get as tired because they have some breaks.” Urso said the association has already begun to pursue private donations and will conduct fund-raisers. The association hopes to raise the same amount of money they received annually from the state — $25,000 — so that at least nine families can receive care at the Millennium House. Pushed, Loved When the Millennium House teamed with the Parkinson’s Association of Southwest Florida, the day care program had mostly dealt with people suffering from Alzheimer’s, strokes or heart failure. But things began to change when the nine families dealing with Parkinson’s arrived. “There has been a lot of recognition about the needs of Alzheimer’s, but Parkinsonian clients haven’t really had a place to go to keep their symptoms from getting worse,” said Cindi Ryerson, the administrator at the center. “By having the nine clients, it opened my eyes that they had special needs that we needed to address.” After the state money ended, the center attempted to keep many of the families by offering hourly costs lower than the $8 normally charged. Some stayed and reduced their hours, but many left. The Millennium House has since changed the way it handles clients. All six of its employees completed 800 hours of online training in July and are now certified Parkinson’s caregivers. Activities coordinator Lilly Howard incorporates exercise into her client’s daily routine, something they began doing with their Parkinson’s patients. “What we realized was that all of our patients benefited from it,” Ryerson said. The clients sit in a circle and follow Howard’s instructions. She asks them to extend their arms or legs, cross them or shake them. She does the hokeypokey and sings songs to keep their spirits up. The clients also create pictures with paint brushes, seeds or scraps of paper. “Making them laugh is the most important thing to me,” Ryerson said. While they laugh, they practice their hand-eye coordination, imagination and muscles, which Ryerson said slows the progress of Parkinson’s. Margot Escott said she has noticed her father is more active since he began visiting the facility. “He seems to have more interest in different things that he never was interested in before, like artwork,” Margot said. “He’s keeping his mind active interacting with people there.” Ivan Escott agrees. He admitted that the exercises were difficult, and often tiring, but said it was worth it. “You have to push a little bit to get something out of it,” he said. SOURCE: News-Press.com - 1-Aug-2004 http://www.news-press.com/news/bonita/040801parkinsons.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn