The National Parkinson Foundation's Moving Day® Walks Fund Parkinson's Programs in Six Cities

National Parkinson Foundation

June 27, 2016

Community Grants Awarded in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and North Carolina Triangle

MIAMI,  

The National Parkinson Foundation (NPF) is proud to announce that the 2015 fall walk season of Moving Day®, A Walk for Parkinson's, has funded nearly $300,000 in mission services to make life better for people living with Parkinson's and their caregivers in six communities. 

"Moving Day® directly supports local and national services that make life better for people living with Parkinson's and their families," said Paul Blom, NPF's Interim CEO. "At NPF, we are happy to fund our local Parkinson's partners who host programs that help people live well with Parkinson's."

Through monies raised by Moving Day®, a grassroots and fundraising awareness walk, NPF invests in local Parkinson's programs for health, wellness and education programs. Moving Day® also supports NPF's national efforts by investing in the NPF Center of Excellence network that delivers expert care to more than 50,000 Parkinson's patients worldwide; by funding cutting-edge research like the Parkinson's Outcomes Project, aimed at better treatment and care; by providing free patient resources for patients and their families, such as a toll-free Helpline (1-800-4PD-INFO) and the life-saving Aware in Care hospital kit. 

"The NPF Moving Day® grant allows us to establish more exercise classes, add new locations, develop new programs including meditation and theater, and provide more scholarships for free Support and Training to Overcome Parkinson's Disease (StoPD) services to low-income families in the Los Angeles area," said Roberta Marongiu and Alex Montaldo, from StoPD, Inc., a Moving Day® grant recipient. "The Parkinson's community has a voice, and we'll keep working hard to make sure it's heard."

The 2016 community grant offerings focus on: 

• Addressing unmet needs in the Parkinson's community: services for underserved populations, support for clinical trial recruitment for under-represented populations and other unmet needs such as financial barriers to care; 
• Expanding a successful program into a new geography; 
• Developing a new program for people with Parkinson's. 

Community grants from funds raised in the fall walk season are funding local services in each of the following cities:

Atlanta

• PD Gladiators group exercise classes for people with Parkinson's and caregivers at YMCA of Metro Atlanta 
• DREAM's Parkinson's research and education program at Emory University Center for Health in Aging 

Boston

• Rock Steady Boxing at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center 
• Women's Parkinson Support Group at Jewish Family and Children's Service 
• Fitness outreach and education program at Boston Jewish Community Center

Chicago

• Educational and Support Outreach Program for Neuropsychiatric Issues in Parkinson's Diseases at Rush UniversityMedical Center 
• Dance program at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 
• Exercise classes at InspirFit, LLC.

Los Angeles

• Early Speech Therapy Intervention and Improved Survival and Quality of Life at Veteran's Southwest Parkinson's Disease and Research Education and Clinical Center 
• Boxing classes at StoPD, Inc. 
• Exercise programs for body and voice at Re+active Physical Therapy and Wellness 
• 5K training team at University of Southern California

Miami

• LSVT-based physical and speech therapies for Parkinson's and community access by The Neuroscience Centers of Florida Foundation, Inc. 
• Yoga for Parkinson's at Aum Home Shala 
• Rock Steady Boxing at Michael Ann Russell Jewish Community Center 
• Memorial Healthcare System Dance Classes at Memorial Foundation's Fitness Centers 
• Ageless Grace neuroplasticity-based classes by Good Vibes Consultants. 
• Exercise programs at David Posnack Jewish Community Center 
• Virtual Art therapy provided by Art Therapy Consulting and Services 

North Carolina Triangle

• Expansion of ParkNC: Multidisciplinary Parkinson's Care at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and state-wide 
• LSVT Big physical therapy program and LSVT Loud speech therapy program at Nash Day Hospital 
• UNC Rex Outpatient Rehab of Wakefield at Rex Healthcare Foundation 
• Music therapy at Atlantic Music Therapy, LLC

Moving Day®, a grassroots fundraising and awareness walk, has raised $11 million since it began in 2011 and is now taking place in 20 cities across the United States. For more information on 2016 Moving Day® walks, visit www.npfmovingday.org. 

About the National Parkinson Foundation (NPF)

Founded in 1957, the National Parkinson Foundation's mission is to make life better for people with Parkinson's disease through expert care and research. NPF has funded more than $189 million in care, research and support services. For more information about NPF, visit www.parkinson.org, or call the NPF Helpline at 1-800-4PD-INFO (473-4636).

About Parkinson's Disease (PD)

Affecting an estimated one million Americans and four to six million worldwide, PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's and is the 14th leading cause of death in the United States. It is associated with a progressive loss of motor control (e.g., shaking or tremor at rest and lack of facial expression) as well as non-motor symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety). There is no cure for PD and 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States alone.

NPF Media Contact:
Leilani Pearl
lpearl@parkinson.org 
305-537-9907

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