It was all about education and bringing people in the community together for a common cause.
The Parkinson Association of Alberta hosted Parkinson's Awareness Day at the Neighbourhood Inn in Bonnyville on Friday, April 26.
"It was an open house for people to come and find out more about (Parkinson's)," detailed Sherry Bower-Gagne, client services coordinator with the Parkinson Association of Alberta for the Lloydminster region. "If they're kind of concerned about some of their symptoms, they could come and get more information."
Bower-Gagne said the association hosted events throughout the area in April to mark Parkinson's Awareness Month.
Parkinson's is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system.
"Basically, what happens is the dopamine in the brain becomes depleted or your body stops making it as much as it would, and that affects movement," Bower-Gagne explained, adding the disease makes walking and talking difficult.
For Bower-Gagne, an important factor in reaching out is to let people "know what they're dealing with."
She said, "There's a lot of symptoms that are manageable, and... to give them hope, I think, is the biggest thing. With Parkinson's disease, because it's dopamine-related and it's a degenerative disorder, there's a lot of things that we can do to help with the symptoms."
Attendee Carmen Wurst believes it's important for people to learn as much as they can about Parkinson's.
"It's like any other disease that needs to be talked about and needs fundraising," she expressed.
By hosting information sessions, Bower-Gagne hopes to spread the word and let people know about the services that are available.
"If you see someone with a tremor, don't treat them like they're different. They're just the same as they were before. It's just the dopamine in their brain isn't helping them function as well as they did (before)," she detailed. "They're no different than they were before, and I think I want people to recognize that for themselves, because it gives them hope. I don't want them to feel different, because they're not."
On the third Friday of every month, a Parkinson's support group gets together at the Neighbourhood Inn from 10 a.m. until noon.
Bower-Gagne noted the meetings are an opportunity to create awareness surrounding some of the symptoms, while also offering support for those diagnosed with the disease.
"If you notice this, then we can get on it right away and teach you some of the strategies to help with it, because what happens in rural areas is you just don't have that connection," noted Bower-Gagne. "Then, you end up with the isolation part of it and that's big, because if you're isolating, you're not moving forward and helping yourself with some of those symptoms that you could be."
Wurst encouraged anybody interested in attending to do so.
"There's probably more people out there with Parkinson's than we know about. Whether they don't know that there's a meeting or a group of people that get together, I'm sure there's got to be more people out there."
For more information, contact Bower-Gagne at 780-808-5006, or at [email protected].
