The National Parkinson Foundation's Moving Day® Walks Fund $1.25 Million in Parkinson's Programs in 2015

MIAMI, Dec. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Parkinson Foundation (NPF) is proud to announce that Moving Day®, A Walk for Parkinson's, has funded $1.25 million in mission services in 2015 to make life better for people living with Parkinson's. In addition to an earlier grant cycle, NPF funded more local community grants for health, wellness and education programs in these three cities for people living with Parkinson's disease (PD) and their caregivers.

Coupled with the nearly one million dollars in community grants from the fall Moving Day® season, announced in June, this round of grant funding from the 2015 spring walk season brings the grand total awarded this calendar year to $1.25 million.

"Moving Day® 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 provide a community of support to give people the resources and help they need to live well with Parkinson's."

"On behalf of the Union City community and staff, we are thankful to be awarded this opportunity from NPF to help provide programs in an underserved Bay Area region that will directly improve the quality of life for people with Parkinson's in our area," said Corina Hahn, Recreation Manager, Union City Community & Recreation Services. "We are also excited and challenged to bring more awareness and education opportunities about Parkinson's to the greater community, including the importance of living a healthy life, and the warning signs of the disease."

Funds raised through Moving Day® also support NPF's national mission by supporting 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 2015 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 are funding local services in each of the following cities:

San Francisco/Silicon Valley, CA

• Dance program at Stanford Movement Disorders Center
• Asian community outreach for education and training on the management of PD at UCSF Parkinson's Disease Clinic and Research Center, an NPF Center of Excellence
• Respite care program at Parkinson Associates of Northern California
• Underserved PD population community outreach meetings with Parkinson's Patient Support Groups
• PD Exercise class at Union City Leisure Services
• Wellness recovery program at the Rianda House Senior Activity Center
• Yoga for Parkinson's with Adaptive Physical Education, Redwood City  

Tampa, FL

• Health and Aging Radio Show and Support Group for Caregivers and Hispanics at South Shore Coalition for Mental Health and Aging
• Rock Steady Boxing at Bodyssey Performance and Recovery
• PD Voice Therapy program at Florida Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy
• Patient and Caregiver Information Resource Forum at the University of South Florida, an NPF Center of Excellence

Washington, D.C.

• Exercise program for Parkinson's at Sibley Memorial Hospital
• Rock Steady Boxing Classes in the Shenandoah Valley
• Calvert County Outreach Support Group for the underserved PD population

Moving Day®, a grassroots fundraising and awareness walk, has raised $8 million since it began in 2011 and is now taking place in 22 cities across the United States. For more information on 2015 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
[email protected]
305-537-9907

SOURCE National Parkinson Foundation

Related Links

http://www.parkinson.org