Bridging the Borders 2002

The events of 911 changed our format somewhat as our American contingent remained closer to home this year and, for those who were able to make it, attend the Unity Walk in New York. Our focus this year was on the role of care partners, how much they must take on in order to care for Parkinsonians, how much we appreciate this effort and how we can help them.

Friday night, registration night, was a wonderful event, welcoming old friends and meeting new ones. Saturday started out bright and early, and windy I might add....with many people coming for the day's seminars. We had two wonderful speakers in the morning, Dr. Stewart and Dr. Boxhall. Dr. Stewart is a neurologist, based in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario specializing in Parkinson's and he has an acute sense of this "disability" and a keen interest in finding a cure. His speech was informative, funny and positive. Dr. Boxhall is a general practioner based in Milton, Ontario. She is Lynda McKenzie's gp and was delighted to talk to us. Her focus was on what to expect from your gp, how to tell them what you need from your gp and how to make your sessions with them more pleasant. Dr. Boxhall was informative, eager to offer her wisdom and showed great compassion.

The afternoon was a little more informal. We had a great speech from Jack and Mary Clark and their research team. Very upbeat and positive. We were also very happy to have Judy Hazlett and Roger Buxton give us their spin on the emergency services and how PLWPers can be mistaken for "drunk" "on drugs" "confused" and other such misconceptions. They have researched this topic with great tenacity and spend much of their time visiting emergency service personnel to educate them about this issue.

We also heard from a care-giver, Jan Kun. Jan's husband is pretty advanced with his PD, but Jan manages to work full-time, no options there, maintain a fit life-style with tennis and golf and participate in many Parkinson's events. Her husband Lars is a bright, funny man and very lucky to have Jan. Jan had a break out session with care partners to discuss issues like community care, hospital care, (or lack thereof),  homehelp and personal burnout, very stimulating and positive. The rest of us participated in Aqua-fit classes, (and I thought I was in pretty good shape until I attended this class). I am happy to report there were no drownings!

Others took advantage of the reiki, massage therapy or just plain relaxed in their rooms. A rejuvenated group met later in the evening for dinner and then an evening of games. Balderdash was a great hit...boy we have some very creative thinkers out there....chosh.....mischief.....not to mention any names. Euchre was also a favourite...talk about competitive....no favours here, even if I did help organize this event, I was skunked....Time to hone up the skills. Off to get our beauty sleep and get set for the speaker on Sunday.

 Kelly Walker arrived bright and early, ready to go. His talk was brilliant. He had us in tears and then laughing out loud. He had us singing and crying and walking away with lighter hearts and brighter spirits. Kelly is a charismatic man who incorporates music and humour into all he does. He is a very gifted musician and has recorded many songs and written many books. He was going to stay for an hour or so and ended up staying for almost three hours. We were so blessed to have him come and speak for us. My only regret was that not more people were able to hear him speak, you missed a life-changing event... All in all it was an amazing weekend.

We definitely enjoyed our time and plan on next year's conference to be even better. Our thanks to all who attended, and to 'Lovestosew', who made it all the way from Texas....It was great to see you again.

For more information on Kelly Walker his website is www.kwalker.com....He has talked in many places in the US and actually had been in Texas just the week before this conference so he was happy 'Lovesto sew' was there too.

Many thanks to Tripper, Mischief, our friend Neil Campbell for all the help and contributions, could not have done this without all your assistance...again.... We have already had a meeting for next year's conference, so we'll keep you posted.

Happy Spring everybody.
Jan Carlisle