It's Important to Know Your Parkinson's Community

At our May meeting, Dr. David Zimmerman spoke about the importance of Persons with Parkinson’s (PwP) advocating for themselves in conversations about their care. His focus was on family, and the value of listening carefully to each family member, with the focus on understanding everyone’s thoughts and feelings. These are important discussions to be had.
Not everyone has family members who are able to participate in care and/or care decisions for the PwP. This may mean looking for additional ways to meet the future needs of persons with PD.
During the group discussion, numerous people expressed a desire to have increased meaningful contact with peers who have PD. While we may be strangers to each other, none of us is a stranger to Parkinson’s. To some degree, our Parkinson’s community can be a family too.
This monthly meeting, on July 11th,, will focus on making connections with others in our group. You may discover members who share similar interests, live near you, can talk about coping methods, or have info about good neurologists. We hope you’ll be able to attend and continue the discussions which began at the meeting with David Zimmerman.
Meeting Details
Our July 11 meeting will be a time to meet and learn from each other. As you enter, you will find tables labeled with areas of the county. Find one that best describes where you live. There will be suggested questions for table groups to answer (or not).
After a designated time, we will mix up in a different way. There will be tables for women with PD, newly diagnosed, those who hate exercise, and 4 other characteristics. Again, members will choose the table that fits them. Suggested questions will be at the tables.
We are hoping that this format will allow all members to learn about each other, as well as learn and ask questions about Parkinson's.
A time for sharing to the whole group will be included.

New meeting location: Congregational Church of Soquel. Parrish Hall entrance faces the large parking lot behind church. 4951 Soquel Drive, in Soquel Village. New time: 2:00 – 3:30. (Instead of 1:00 to 2:30)

For questions, email Contact: Karen Williams at [email protected]