JCHC offers Parkinson’s disease support group

FAIRFIELD — Those who are afflicted with Parkinson’s disease need not confront the disease alone.

Jefferson County Health Center offers a Parkinson’s support group that meets every month. It’s an opportunity for people with the disease, those caring for them or anyone else who wishes to learn about it, to share their experiences. Through this sharing, members connect with others who are facing the same hurdles caused by the disease.

The group meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. in the Jefferson County Health Center in Fairfield. Sessions are led by Michelle Boeding-Kreuter, speech language pathologist at JCHC. The group will not meet in January, so its next meeting will be on Feb. 1.

The support group started in late 2019, and has only able to meet two or three times before COVID-19 arrived in the spring of 2020 and shut it down. More than a year later in August 2021, the group reconvened for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Boeding-Kreuter said attendance usually ranges between 6-8 but has been as high as 10 people.

“We’re slowly building on our attendance,” she said. “We’ve had a couple of new members in the last few months, and some members are very good about sending reminder emails to people they know.”

Boeding-Kreuter said she hopes people who have Parkinson’s will feel welcome at the meetings, just as those who are support people like a loved one or caregiver.

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological problem where the brain doesn’t produce dopamine. This lack of dopamine can manifest itself in different symptoms in different people. Boeding-Kreuter said some people experience tremors, while others have difficulty swallowing or reduced speech volume.

“Some people with Parkinson’s experience a lot of rigidity. They’re very stiff, and it’s hard for them to move, to get out of a chair,” she said.

The Mayo Clinic’s website on Parkinson’s disease states, “In the early stages of Parkinson's disease, your face may show little or no expression. Your arms may not swing when you walk. Your speech may become soft or slurred. Parkinson's disease symptoms worsen as your condition progresses over time.”

Boeding-Kreuter said the support group includes people who have lived with Parkinson’s for a long time and those who are just learning about the disease.

“I’ve observed some really good interaction [between those groups], and they support each other,” she said. “New people ask questions of those with more experience, who have been educating themselves longer, or who have had the diagnosis longer.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com