Last spring my friend Carolyn from Spencer asked if I knew someone that might organize a Parkinson Support Group in Storm Lake. The group provides information for those diagnosed and also caregivers. She has hosted one in Spencer for 5 years…and it grew from five to 15 or 20 with some were driving many miles and even from Storm Lake.
I said I knew nothing about Parkinson’s disease and she quipped right back, “Can you talk?” Had to admit I can talk. And of course we now have Parkinson Support Group in Storm Lake. St Mark Lutheran offered facilities with no steps and easy parking, two others agreed to help host (and now we’ve added a fourth). We “joined” the Iowa and national chapters and have had two meetings.
Our first was organizational and idea generating with 10 attending. Our August meeting had 15 there and a pharmacist presented on the medicines prescribed, side effects, and how the medicines work. With ideas from the group we have scheduled a physical therapist for our September meeting and a speech therapist for our October meeting.
