Yesterday, the Younger Parkinson’s Network (YPN) of the Parkinson's Disease Society elected its new committee for 2009. Congratulations to new Chair Tina Walker, who is committed to raising awareness of Parkinson’s and is already an active member of the YPN.The YPN gives support and information to people of working age affected by Parkinson’s. Members benefit from support groups and social activities and the newly relaunched UP magazine
A YPN conference was held in March to discuss issues affecting younger people - such as work, children, prescription charges, or appearing 'drunk' and getting reported to the police!
One in 20 people diagnosed with Parkinson's is under 40, which is something a lot of people don't realise- including healthcare professionals. This is one reason many younger people are incorrectly diagnosed as having frozen shoulder or essential tremor.
Younger people with Parkinson's are heavy users of the main Parkinson's Disease Society website and represent the majority of people taking part in our discussion forum
To find out more about joining the Younger Parkinson's Network or finding support groups local to you, please visit our Younger Parkinson's Network page.
Steve Ford is Chief Executive of the Parkinson's Disease Society
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2 comments:
You say "To find out more about joining the Younger Parkinson's Network or finding support groups local to you, please visit our Younger Parkinson's Network page." but there really isn't anything there. There used to be a YPN website but it seems to have been subsumed into the main site.
At 37 I feel very young on the forum and although one or two posts have helped me, I feel very different to the 50-65's age group. God knows what it must be like if you are diagnosed in your teens or twenties. I think the society needs to think a good deal more about the differing needs of the various age groups. To group everyone from teens to 65 in one group seems totally wrong to me.
Thanks for your comments. The Younger Person's Network (YPN) National Committee is meeting in a couple of weeks' time to discuss what we should be doing for the future, so your view about different things for different age groups is very helpful. Please do get in touch with the Chair of the Committee (ypn@parkinsons.org.uk) if you'd like to feed in any other ideas.
The Society runs local information events for younger people and has groups and networks in many places across the UK that do a variety of things; so you might find your regional pages on the web site (www.parkinsons.org.uk/regionalteams) helpful in identifying a local activity or group that is of interest.
Our magazine for younger people goes to younger members three or four times a year. And we are continuing to develop the content of our web pages too, working with YPN members. We are always keen to hear ideas from people so do let us know if there is something that you think would be helpful on the website.
Rachel Raymond, Director of Community Services
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