Our Story
ParkNC is an initiative developed and run by the
Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In 2008, Dr. Nina Browner came to UNC as the Director of the Movement Disorders Center, a Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence. Having recently moved to North Carolina, she took it upon herself to reach out to Parkinson's disease (PD) support groups throughout the state, learning about local needs. Often times, people with Parkinson's will see their movement disorders specialist in a different part of the state and then need to seek rehabilitation therapies locally in their community. Research continuously finds that people with PD experience the best benefits and quality of care and life from clinicians who are specialized in PD.
We began by creating a specialty Interdisciplinary Parkinson's disease Clinic onsite at UNC Hospitals. With PD-experts from neurology, clinical social work, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech language pathology, our team offers patients a comprehensive half-day consultation, followed by detailed recommendations created by the interdisciplinary team. In 2011, we partnered with Rex Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation to provide access to interdisciplinary team care for patients in and around Raleigh.
Recognizing that many of our patients live outside of our nearby service areas, we created a referral network of care by compiling information on allied health clinicians throughout the state who have been trained in Parkinson's disease. Many clinicians received training directly from the Parkinson's Foundation, when their Team Training for Parkinson's was brought to Chapel Hill in 2011 or at other ATTPs offered throughout the country every year. Many more clinicians have received training in the Lee Silverman Voice Therapies for speech therapists (LSVT Loud) and physical & occupational therapists (LSVT Big), in Parkinson's Wellness Recovery: Exercise4BrainChange, or in Speak Out through the Parkinson's Voice Project. Our ParkNC referral network provides listings of the agencies throughout North Carolina who employ physical, occupational and/or speech therapists who have been trained in these programs and can provide evidence-based and specialized care to our North Carolina Parkinson's population.
Over the last several years, we have expanded these services by: increasing the number of professionals on the UNC interdisciplinary PD team, offering UNC-hosted trainings ("Colloquiums on Interdisciplinary Care for Parkinson's") on PD in areas of needs in NC, partnering with agencies to increase the number of PD-specific exercise classes and other resources offered, as well as helping to launch Moving Day NC Triangle, a walk for Parkinson's, in 2013 in order to bring more financial support to Parkinson's programs in the state.
In 2018, the UNC Movement Disorders Center was also designated a CurePSP Center of Care, for it's excellent care and support programs dedicated to those living with atypical Parkinsonism diseases (progressive supranuclear palsy - PSP, corticobasal degeneration - CBD, multiple system atrophy - MSA).
In addition, UNC Movement Disorders Center facilitates 3 community support groups (Chapel Hill Parkinson's support group; PSP & CBD; MSA) and a variety of community-based educational and supportive programs.
All of these efforts and more make up our ParkNC initiative. We want to ensure that PD patients across North Carolina are receiving the best, most specialized care available and have access to such care and other supportive resources. We greatly encourage allied health clinicians to continue to seek training from these outstanding programs and to send us your agency's contact information for our statewide referral network.
We began by creating a specialty Interdisciplinary Parkinson's disease Clinic onsite at UNC Hospitals. With PD-experts from neurology, clinical social work, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech language pathology, our team offers patients a comprehensive half-day consultation, followed by detailed recommendations created by the interdisciplinary team. In 2011, we partnered with Rex Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation to provide access to interdisciplinary team care for patients in and around Raleigh.
Recognizing that many of our patients live outside of our nearby service areas, we created a referral network of care by compiling information on allied health clinicians throughout the state who have been trained in Parkinson's disease. Many clinicians received training directly from the Parkinson's Foundation, when their Team Training for Parkinson's was brought to Chapel Hill in 2011 or at other ATTPs offered throughout the country every year. Many more clinicians have received training in the Lee Silverman Voice Therapies for speech therapists (LSVT Loud) and physical & occupational therapists (LSVT Big), in Parkinson's Wellness Recovery: Exercise4BrainChange, or in Speak Out through the Parkinson's Voice Project. Our ParkNC referral network provides listings of the agencies throughout North Carolina who employ physical, occupational and/or speech therapists who have been trained in these programs and can provide evidence-based and specialized care to our North Carolina Parkinson's population.
Over the last several years, we have expanded these services by: increasing the number of professionals on the UNC interdisciplinary PD team, offering UNC-hosted trainings ("Colloquiums on Interdisciplinary Care for Parkinson's") on PD in areas of needs in NC, partnering with agencies to increase the number of PD-specific exercise classes and other resources offered, as well as helping to launch Moving Day NC Triangle, a walk for Parkinson's, in 2013 in order to bring more financial support to Parkinson's programs in the state.
In 2018, the UNC Movement Disorders Center was also designated a CurePSP Center of Care, for it's excellent care and support programs dedicated to those living with atypical Parkinsonism diseases (progressive supranuclear palsy - PSP, corticobasal degeneration - CBD, multiple system atrophy - MSA).
In addition, UNC Movement Disorders Center facilitates 3 community support groups (Chapel Hill Parkinson's support group; PSP & CBD; MSA) and a variety of community-based educational and supportive programs.
All of these efforts and more make up our ParkNC initiative. We want to ensure that PD patients across North Carolina are receiving the best, most specialized care available and have access to such care and other supportive resources. We greatly encourage allied health clinicians to continue to seek training from these outstanding programs and to send us your agency's contact information for our statewide referral network.
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