Parkinson's Support Group

Saint Clair Street Senior Center Murfreesboro TN

JANUARY COFFEE AND CAKE KICKOFF-

Well-sometimes things don't go as planned. In this case January weather changed our plans from in person coffee and cake to a Zoom meeting. We had fun discussing education topics for the new year.

The images above tell the story. We wanted everyone to join us for coffee and cake at our New Year kickoff meeting. But mother nature dumps 5 inches of snow and freezing temperatures which results in a Zoom meeting. No matter, we adapted.

KELLY ARNEY

Kelly Arney, MSSW, Outreach Coordinator for the Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence at Vanderbilt was our guest speaker. Weather again required us to conduct the meeting by Zoom.

Some ladies remarked that they don't like Zoom because their hair always looks bad. So we covered up the hair and had a HAT Zoom meeting, giving away a prize for the best hat worn during the Zoom meeting. George Neely won best ( worst) hat.

Ms. Kelly planned to be our guest speaker in Murfreesboro BUT for the second month in a row the weather forced us to a zoom meeting. Kelly made a great presentation via zoom about "preparing for your Doctor's appointment."

We enjoyed learning about Komiko and Ann in our "get-to-know-you" segment. We are so blessed with our talented and accomplished members.

It was good to see Karen again and nice to have Martha with us. She gave us an update on Wally and thanked everyone for the kind gestures of food, cards, calls and texts while Wally has been 11 weeks in the VA home and hospital fighting infection and covid.

> Laura Grissom

The Maple Street Biscuit Company provided goodies for this meeting.

GUEST SPEAKER was Laura Grissom wellness director at Saint Clair. She covered the many programs and options that are available at the Senior Center that could be helpful to people with Parkinson's and Care Givers. We also had a line dance presentation by Phyllis Petty an instructor in dance. Ron introduced a cognitive self evaluation tool with a handout. We also enjoyed getting to know Jim Upton and Dianne Phillips in our getting to know you segment. Our discussion groups focused on Senior Center programs and the cognitive self evaluation exercise handout.

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Byron Coleman

Byron spoke about the Inbrija the levodopa inhaler, as a short term solution to "off times". Sharon led us in some exercises and we had our "get-to-know-you" segment. We learned about John Cain and we learned a little about Carol Ellis. In our discussion groups we talked about "Share Groups" and asked if it would be better to gather by gender rather than by patient and care giver. We also remembered Wally Sudduth and Jerry Jensen before closing. Ron asked everyone to visit our website and let others know how you are doing in this " Parkinson's Awareness" month of April.

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CLAIRE CARRICO

Thanks for those who were able to be at our First Friday May meeting. We had a few new people.

It was good to see Martha Sudduth again. She always brings her kind smile.

Thanks again to David and Carol Ellis for bringing the goodies again. And thanks to David for arranging

for our Guest speaker Claire Carrico who gave a great presentation about the Loud program that is

part of the BIG and LOUD exercise program for Parkinson's patients. We all learned something about

voice projection and how to recover a shrinking voice effected by PD.

In our get-to-know-you segment we learned more about Jon MacBeth and David Ellis.

In the picture below we have Carol Ellis and David Ellis and our speaker Claire Carrico.

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Jay Berryman from ABBVIE Neuroscience talked about the automatic medication delivery system called Duopa. Sharon led our exercise segment and we had our Aware in Care check as usual. In our get-to-know you segment we learned a little more about Martha Sudduth and Karen Alexander. Our discussion groups talked about the Duopa

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PATRIOTIC SUMMER PARTY

Bunny Donnelly , PT, MOMP

Bunny is a Physical Therapist who instructs the BIG part of the BIG and LOUD method of therapy. Bunny explained how this program can benefit a person with Parkinson's with practical examples and exercises.

In addition to her two degrees in PT, Bunny holds numerous other certifications making her one of the highest trained physical therapists in Rutherford County.

Bunny Donnelly

Bethany Phalen

Our Speaker was from Boston Scientific and discussed Deep Brain Stimulation

Bethany has worked with the Parkinson’s Community in Middle Tennessee and both the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Bethany has experience in Deep Brain Stimulation for Boston Scientific. This meeting had the most questions asked of any meeting we have hosted. Bethany did a great job answering.