Clinical psychologist Roseanne Dobkin will discuss anxiety, depression and how people with Parkinson’s disease and their loved ones can manage symptoms during a symposium March 12.

March 12: Parkinson's symposium

Evelyn Hayes Innovations in Healthcare Symposium rescheduled

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9:39 a.m., March 4, 2015--A health care symposium for people with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers will be held from 12:30-4:30 p.m., Thursday, March 12, at the University of Delaware’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus atrium. 

The symposium was originally scheduled Thursday, March 5, but was postponed one week due to the pending snowstorm.

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The second installment of the Evelyn Hayes Innovations in Healthcare Symposium will focus on the psychological impact of Parkinson’s disease.

People living with Parkinson’s disease and those who support them are invited to attend the free symposium, which will include light refreshments and a time for mingling. Delaware INBRE also is a sponsor of the event.

Roseanne Dobkin, clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychiatry at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Brunswick, New Jersey, and an affiliate at The Parkinson’s Clinic at UD, will lead the event. 

She will discuss anxiety, depression and how people with Parkinson’s disease and their loved ones can manage symptoms. The symposium also will include a Healthcare Theatre production that will invite audience participation.

“This is an incredible opportunity for people living with Parkinson’s disease and their families to learn about depression and anxiety and how to cope with these feelings,” said Ingrid Pretzer-Aboff, research director of the UD Nurse Managed Health Center and co-director of The Parkinson’s Clinic. 

About 2,000 people in Delaware have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Pretzer-Aboff said. About half of those living with the disease have experienced anxiety and nearly 90 percent suffer from depression.

Marge Fleming-Smith is a caregiver to her husband, Bill, who lives with Parkinson’s disease. She leads caregiver support groups at UD and in Sussex County. She said anxiety and depression are common topics in the Parkinson’s community, especially among people who are new to the diagnosis. 

She noticed a change in her own husband following his diagnosis, and it was her desire to help him get the care he needed that put her in connection with Dobkin. He was a patient of Dobkin’s thanks to telemedicine, which allows providers to see patients even when they aren’t in the same location.

“She basically changes your way of thinking,” Fleming-Smith said, adding that her husband’s depression has resolved thanks to his work with Dobkin. 

This is the second symposium in the semi-annual series. Last fall’s inaugural Innovations in Healthcare Symposium focused on effective assessment and treatment approaches to the neuropsychiatric complications of Parkinson’s disease for clinicians and other professionals. 

Community education is one of the most important types of education that the Nurse Managed Health Center supports, said Allen Prettyman, NMHC director. 

“The Parkinson’s disease symposium will provide information, but more importantly, it provides an opportunity to engage with our team of health care providers and staff so we can learn from each other,” Prettyman said. 

Fleming-Smith said the patient-centered approach also allows for health professionals to explore different ways of meeting a patient’s often complex needs. 

“They look at the whole patient,” she said. “It's easier because it's centralized there. You really start to reap the benefits of it.” 

The symposium is free, but reservations are suggested. To register for the event, visit this website.

Article by Kelly Bothum

Photo by Doug Baker

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