Parkinson's Disease, What is it?
Affects people of all ages, color, race or creed.
Affects approximately 1,500,000 Americans with 100,000 newly diagnosed each year.
Early stages characterized by "shuffling" gait, tremors of the limbs when at rest, increased resistance to passive movement, stooped posture, and stiffness.
Progresses through five stages. Advanced stages often characterized by complete or near complete immobility, rigidity, extremely slow movement, loss of muscle movement - essentially, the person with Parkinson's is imprisoned in his or her own body.
Difficulty with cognition, or complete dementia can occur in 50 to 80 percent of its victims.
Diagnosis is purely clinical. There are no specific tests to make an absolute diagnosis during life.
Drug treatment can help with quality of life. They have developed surgical procedures to stop or control some dramatic symptoms in later stages.
Notable names affected by Parkinson's: Michael J. Fox, Janet Reno, Billy Graham, Mohammed Ali, Jim Backus (Mr. Magoo), Jesse White (the former Maytag man) others with diseases that mimic Parkinson's - Dudley Moore (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy), Johnny Cash (Shy Drager)
The caregiver and family roles become an overwhelming responsibility, and that is where PRO (Parkinson's Resource Organization) comes in.
Parkinson's Resource Organization:
Working so no one is isolated because of and
Helping families affected by Parkinson's since 1990
Started in 1990 by a woman whose mother and husband were both diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
PROvides services for the patient and family - Searching for "Quality of Life":
- Emotional and Education support
- Support groups throughout Southern California
- Information and referral throughout the United States
- Monthly Newsletter distributed internationally
- Respite care for the caregivers
PRO pioneered the focus on the family affected by Parkinson's disease. Before PRO all Parkinson's organizations provided research and services for the patient only.
PRO prides itself in helping the families mire through the challenges of dealing with this devastating disease that, from its onset, becomes an uphill battle for everyone involved.
- Financial issues
- Long-term care planning issues
- Insurance issues
- Legal issues
- In home services
- Placing a loved one in a care facility
- Vision Development issues
- Depression issues for the patient and the caregiver
- Promoting that the caregiver constantly remembers to take care of him or herself first so that they are there to take care of their loved one.
PRO is funded by donations from individuals, businesses and foundations. One of its major sources of income is from fundraising events. To date, it has not received any federal or state funding
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