The Wisconsin Parkinson Association will hold its annual Kenton Kilmer Symposium on Parkinson disease on Saturday, June 11, 2011 at the Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha, WI. The day-long conference, sponsored in part through generous grants from Teva Neuroscience and UCB, features presentations from experts in the field of Parkinson disease as well as related exhibits by health and community agencies. Among the topics in breakout sessions are: living well with chronic disease, managing caregiver stress, anxiety and Parkinson disease, communication and conflict resolution in the family, job accommodation and Parkinson disease, placebo effect, and dementia and successful communication.
The public is invited to attend; the cutoff date to register is Friday, June 3. The $25 per person fee includes education materials, continental breakfast, refreshments, and lunch. For more information, visit www.wiparkinson.org or call Raven Hamilton at 414-219-5768.
Raising awareness about Parkinson disease is vital in the search for a cure, as the disease affects more than one million Americans. According to a recent study by Washington University in St. Louis, the Milwaukee metropolitan area may have one of the highest prevalence rates of the disease in the United States, with as many as 13,000 cases. About the Wisconsin Parkinson Association Founded in 1984, now with 6,000 members in five states, the mission of the Wisconsin Parkinson Association (WPA) is to expand medical professional and public awareness and understanding about Parkinson disease that will lead to maximum support, the best individual health care, assistance for caregivers and families, and increased funding for research.
Staff conducts local and regional education programs about Parkinson’s and provides literature, videotaped education material, and a speaker’s bureau. The WPA coordinates community support groups throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan that assist people with Parkinson disease and their caregivers and families. Visit our website at www.wiparkinson.org.
The Wisconsin Parkinson Association, located at Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee, is the nonprofit arm of the Regional Parkinson Center (RPC), a comprehensive care center that provides diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, education, and research; the RPC serves between 5,000 and 10,000 persons per year. Also under the umbrella of the RPC is the Parkinson Research Institute, which is dedicated to gathering and analyzing data to discover the cause of Parkinson’s, improve treatment options, and find a cure.
