In Chinatown, Parkinson's Disease patients learn to cope
AS THE hushed sounds of a choir singing Chinese folk songs drifted in from an adjacent space, Yao Huang sat on a hard chair, lifting and stamping his feet at a senior center in Chinatown.
AS THE hushed sounds of a choir singing Chinese folk songs drifted in from an adjacent space, Yao Huang sat on a hard chair, lifting and stamping his feet at a senior center in Chinatown.
Julia Wood, an occupational therapist, sat facing her audience of about 12 elderly Asian Americans with Parkinson's disease.
"We're going to be using seated exercises taken from Tai Chi and yoga," Wood said. An interpreter, David Lee, translated her English words into Cantonese.
When prompted, Huang, 75, chanted "om" along with others in the Parkinson's support group that meets at the On Lok Senior Services Center, on 10th Street near Race.
Wood, from the Dan Aaron Parkinson's Rehabilitation Center at Pennsylvania Hospital, gave them vocal exercises because Parkinson's not only affects their movements, but can make it harder for them to speak loudly enough to be heard.
Parkinson's is a chronic and progressive movement disorder involving malfunction and death of the nerve cells in the brain called neurons.
Its symptoms, including tremors, impaired balance, and rigidity in the limbs, can worsen over time, said Yuliis Y. Bell, a social worker and outreach coordinator for the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Actor Michael J. Fox is among well-known figures with the disease.
The Chinatown Parkinson's group meets every other month at On Lok. It's a joint project of Pennsylvania Hospital and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Bell said the hospitals formed the support group to help patients get information in a language and a culturally sensitive way that meets their needs, and to help others in their communities.
"We fill a need, especially in minority communities, where we've found that information about Parkinson's is minimal," Bell said.
In addition to the Chinatown group, there are Parkinson's support groups for African Americans in West Philadelphia and for Latinos in Northeast Philadelphia.
At last month's session, Wood asked the group, "How many of you have had a fall in the last week?"
After several raised their hands, Wood told them it was important to exercise at home to remain as strong as possible.
Huang, who used to work in manufacturing, said he was diagnosed with Parkinson's eight years ago. He has been coming to the support group for a year.
"This is very important," Huang said, according to Lee, the interpreter. "My voice has gotten very soft, but because I was coming here, I knew to expect it and knew how to do exercises for it."
Also at On Lok were Xin Rong Xu, 80, a retired dentist, and her husband, Qinchun Wang, 85, a retired engineer. Xu was diagnosed with Parkinson's 10 years ago, her husband five years ago.
Wang said that in addition to coming to the support group, he takes Tai Chi classes.
Both husband and wife are patients of Tsao-Wei Liang, a neurologist at Jefferson.
He said that members of the group are "very highly educated" and that he has been pleased by the depth of their questions at the meetings.
"Persons with Parkinson's disease often live in fear and isolation, fear of what the future will bring, and isolation from their peer groups," Liang later wrote in an email.
"The Chinatown PD support group brings together a group of like-minded individuals linked by a condition, by ethnicity and language. The educational and nurturing environment provides comfort, hope, and enlightenment for local Chinese Americans living with PD."
For more information, visit http://theparkinsoncouncil.org or call 610-668-4292.
215-854-5987 @ValerieRussDN