Moving Forward

The Moving Forward: Ride/Walk for Parkinson’s was a huge success! The weather was gorgeous — 70s and sunny with peak fall colors. The turnout was great — almost 200 riders and over 200 walkers. The opportunity to exercise and socialize was abundant. The band was terrific, and the children’s activities area and raffle were both big hits.

The Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Program took in almost $60,000 to be used toward patient education and support, community exercise and dance classes for people with Parkinson’s, specialized training of our Parkinson’s team and various translational research projects in the lab run by Chris Butson, PhD, here in the Neurosciences Department

Volunteer John Chaplock took lots of pictures at the event and has posted them on Picasa.

Post written by Dr. Blindauer

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Oct. 9 is going to be a beautiful day — mid-70s and sunny with the trees in full color.

We again expect 500 riders and walkers in Dousman for the 3rd Annual Moving Forward Ride/Walk to support the Parkinson’s Program at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin. Besides being a successful fund-raiser for many aspects of our program — patient education and support, community PD exercise programs, specialized training in the latest PD treatments for our team members and supplemental support for the translational research lab of Chris Butson, PhD, located right in our Neurosciences clinics — the event provides very tangible examples of the benefits of exercising and socializing in the management of Parkinson’s.

Check out the event brochure, which has maps, instructions, parking information and the calendar. Speaking of the calendar, the event will include children's activities, live music, an amazing raffle and even more amazing meal. People can register, donate or just stop by to “witness” the event and put a few dollars towards their favorite raffle item.

All official registrants are entered into a drawing for a $100 gift certificate to the Delafield Brewhaus and all volunteers are entered into a drawing for another $100 gift certificate to the same. Raffle tickets are $1 each or six for $5. Some of the raffle items are as follows:

Silent auction for two footballs signed by three members of the Super Bowl Packers team
3 hats signed by numerous members of the Super Bowl Packers team
4 packs of Brewers, Zoo and Betty Brinn Museum tickets in children’s activity area
Childrens Trek bike
Green cleaning supply basket
Date night basket — Bartolotta gift card/movie passes
Door County Shore Line restaurant dinner for two
Skinny Girl basket with fixings
Fine chocolate basket
Door County Cooking School basket
Free medium pizza for a year at Pizza Hut (2 winners)
Brain teaser bag
EZ Windows $100 gift certificate (4 winners)
Gills Rock stoneware lighthouse
Frykman carved walking sticks (3 winners)
Bentley art print from Door County
Froedterdt & The Medical College of Wisconsin logo basket
Fred Astaire dance certificate
Cat basket
Dog basket
Fall table linens with two bottles of wine

Post written by Dr. Brad Hiner

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Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Dystonia and even Essential Tremor can take a devastating toll on the quality of an individual’s life. As a physician, I can assess, diagnose, prescribe and make other recommendations such as developing an exercise program. Once, twice, three or even four times a year, I may see a patient in clinic. I listen, assess, change the medication regimen and make other recommendations, but my intervention is a small piece in the care of a person with a chronic illness. In fact, the standard of care for chronic conditions is “self-management.”

Over a year ago, Froedtert began offering the 6 week course, Living Well with Chronic Conditions, developed at Stanford University some 15 years ago. It is now offered all over the world. Many of my patients have participated in the course, and I have seen a difference in their attitude and in their relationships with me. Here are a few of the differences:

• My patients come to their appointments more prepared, more engaged and more desirous of being a partner in their care.
  
  
• They understand that to make the best use of our time together, letting me know “what is different for better or worse since your last appointment,“ is the best way for me to begin my assessment.
  
  
• They understand that they can show me a list of 15 concerns, which I will study to see if a dangerous symptom jumps out at me; but, realistically, we can only address their top two or three concerns.
  
  
• If I begin to “close” the visit and they haven’t understood something, they are empowered to ask me to go over it again.
  
  
• My patients understand that while I am on the alert for depression and anxiety issues, many of the psycho/social problems they might have are better served by our Program Coordinator who is available to them without time constraints or cost.
  
  
• They have come to understand that education and support are ongoing through our team, and they can attend a new patient orientation, support groups, community education talks, symposia, community exercise programs, therapy sessions and more.
  
  
• Our nurses are well-equipped to answer medication questions and to triage patient concerns.
  
  
• I am not the only contact that is available to help, and sometimes, I’m not the best contact for certain types of help.

My patients are embracing the idea of using a variety of “tools” to “break the symptom cycle.” That’s "Living Well" talk, but it’s very effective. When a person has pain, it can lead to fatigue, which can lead to difficult emotions like frustration, which can lead to isolation, which can lead to depression. You get it. At any point in this cycle, a tool such as distraction, stretching, or deep breathing, can really break the cycle. Having an entire toolbox of these strategies and techniques is what "Living Well" teaches.

Here are a few things my patients have said:

‘“'Living Well with Chronic Conditions' helped me in so many ways. It helped me get out of the house and socialize. I started making commitments to myself. I started exercising…”

“This class opens doors for people with chronic conditions helping them to learn coping skills with their condition, discussing avenues of treatment, exercise, eating and communication with family and doctor, providing a more positive approach that can be taken toward their chronic condition.”

“This class supports the acquisition of self-empowering tools which allows a person to proceed in their healing an coping skills.”


Learn more about the "Living Well With Chronic Conditions" classes available through Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin.

Learn more about these classes offered around the state.

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Post written by Dr. Katie Spangler

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The Greeks have given us many wonderful things: democracy and dolmades come to mind. Did you know that a “symposium” is of Greek origin?
 
Origin: 1580–90; < Latin < Greek sympósion drinking party, equivalent to sym- sym- + po- (variant stem of pī́nein to drink) + -sion noun suffix.

In other words, its origin defines a symposium as a drinking party, usually with music and philosophical conversation. Although we will have many drinks — coffee, tea, water, juice, soft drinks (and some amazing food also) — that won’t be the highlight of our symposium. Ours will adhere to the more current definition of “a meeting or conference for the discussion of some subject, especially a meeting at which several speakers talk on or discuss a topic before an audience.”

Our Fourth Annual Symposium for People with Parkinson’s and Their Families will take place on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Country Springs Conference Center off of I-94 in Waukesha.

I am delighted and excited to be a speaker among the group of wonderful people presenting on several cutting edge topics. I will be speaking on the idea of “neuroprotection” and alternative therapies and how they relate to Parkinson's disease. Do they help? What is the data/scientific evidence behind such therapies? My colleagues here, Dr. Karen Blindauer and Dr. Brad Hiner will also be speaking. Dr. Blindauer will be speaking about the cognitive changes that can be seen with Parkinson's disease and Dr. Hiner will be speaking about the history of surgical treatments and Parkinson's disease.

Our Keynote Speaker is Dr. Allison Ebert, assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She will present about how stem cells are being used to understand and treat Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Ebert received undergraduate degrees in chemistry and psychology in 1999 from Indiana University in Bloomington. She then went to Northwestern University in Chicago where she received a Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2005 specializing in neurobiology and the study of Parkinson’s disease. She completed her post-doctoral training in the Stem Cell Research Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the lab of Dr. Clive Svendsen where she studied stem cell transplantation in animal models of Parkinson’s disease.

Following her post-doctorate work, Dr. Ebert joined the Department of Neurology and the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center at UW-Madison where she continued investigating stem cell transplantation for neurodegenerative diseases. She also helped establish and characterize an induced pluripotent stem cell model of spinal muscular atrophy. In January 2011 she moved to the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy. Her primary research interests include utilizing induced pluripotent stem cells to understand the molecular processes occurring in neurodegenerative diseases.

Daniel M. Corcos, Ph.D. is our guest speaker. He is the director of the Motor Control and Learning Program in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a professor of Movement Sciences, Neurology, Physical Therapy, and Bioengineering. Dr. Corcos is completing a two-year randomized clinical trial of the effects of progressive resistance training vs. the effects of a flexibility and strengthening program. Dr. Corcos will present his results at our symposium.

Our own neuro rehab team will encourage exercise during our “movement breaks” and we will have the added benefit of having our meals once again selected by our registered dietician, Sarah Zangerle. Sarah has several surprises up her sleeve to encourage us to eat healthily. And, as always, we will have 20 or more exhibitors that have specific interest and knowledge in Parkinson’s.

To register for the Parkinson’s Symposium, please call 414-805-3666 or 800-272-3666. Registration is only $10 for breakfast, lunch and the amazing program described above.

View the "Save the Date" flyer.

I guarantee that it will be well worth your time!

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The following is feedback received for this blog: Do you have any classes like Living Well with Chronic Conditions that might help those of us who have CMT Charcot Marie Tooth Inherited Neuropathy? We have recently formed a support group here in SE Wisconsin and are searching for any guidance that would be helpful for us. CMT is different from Parkinsons, but is life long, with such a variety of similar symptoms. Thanks. - Susan Moore Hello Susan – Living Well with Chronic Conditions is designed for folks with almost any chronic conditions (except dementia). It would be very appropriate and helpful for your group members. If you wanted the Milwaukee County representative to speak to your group, I bet he would. His name is Harvey Padek. Beyond Living Well, I’m just not sure what’s out there. For the various support groups I facilitate, I try to find topics and speakers that can either educate about the disease with an emphasis on coping strategies or people that actually inform on “living well” type strategies i.e. the various therapies, breath work, guided imagery, yoga or tai chi, etc. Good luck to you and your group. - Vicki Conte Community Outreach Coordinator