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FALL 2006 |
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Online
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H
E A L T H P R O M O T I O N
Movement
Disorder Clinic helps treat Parkinson's patients
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Submitted Photo |
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Alan Goodridge (second cousin to Dr.
Alan Goodridge), chair of the St. John's library board, accepted a
donation of 52 books on Parkinson's disease from John Rutherford. A
set of two books will go to 23 public libraries throughout the
province with three additional sets
available through the public libraries exchange program. |
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Every Thursday at the
Miller Centre in St. John’s, patients with Parkinson’s disease come for
ongoing treatment.
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Submitted Article |
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Every Thursday at the Miller Centre in
St. John’s, patients with Parkinson’s disease come for ongoing
treatment. Although such visits may be up to six months apart, the
outreach work of nurse co-ordinator Denise Murphy provides important
continuity of care for the 1,200 plus patients in the province with
Parkinson’s disease.
The clinic opened in 1992, in part due to
the lobbying efforts of Anne Rutherford, a woman of courage and vision
whose spirit never faltered in the face of early-onset Parkinson's
disease. Dr. Terry Curran was the neurologist who founded the clinic;
when he left the province neurologist Dr. Alan Goodridge was inspired in
part by Anne Rutherford to take on the treatment of people with
Parkinson’s.
Although her life ended in January 2004,
Anne’s legacy lives on through the continuing work of the people she
inspired in her never-ending battle to educate patients and their
families about the realities of living with Parkinson’s. Her husband,
John Rutherford, continues her work and recently donated books on
Parkinson’s disease to 26 libraries in the province.
“Anne had Parkinson’s for 24 years and ran
a hotline in our home for five years in the early 1990s,” said Mr.
Rutherford. “She was saddened by the lack of easily available
information for patients in the public area and she asked me to give
books for patients to the public libraries of Newfoundland and Labrador
— partly as information but more importantly as a step to making Parkinsonians take charge of their lives.”
Mr. Rutherford remembers that his wife’s
view was: “I don't live with Parkinson’s, Parkinson’s lives with me.”
The grief of Parkinson’s, says Mr.
Rutherford, lies in day-to-day living. “Patients, with their families,
must manage their lives. That’s why patients need to know what the
future may bring and how to handle it. Library books are only a first
step; each patient needs to build their own library for the long
Parkinson’s journey.” While medications play a vital role in the
treatment of Parkinson’s, the patient needs to learn to manage their
medications between visits to the neurologist and the Movement Disorder
Clinic. Local chapters of the Parkinson’s society are important in
organizing activities such as exercise classes and offering family
support. Denise Murphy explained that part of her role as nurse co-ordinator
is to organize traveling clinics throughout the province. “In May we
went across the province giving talks and bringing in local speakers in
areas such as speech pathology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy,
diet and social work. This is the type of activity Anne Rutherford
really pushed for when she was alive.” In addition to traveling clinics,
Dr. Goodridge follows a group of patients in the province and travels to
areas such as Labrador City for regular medical follow-up.
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