Thursday, September 26, 2013

"Through Our Eyes" WPC Poster Content

PERSONAL RESPONSES TO SURVEY BY RESPONDENTS:
Primary Question: What have you gained from learning from Persons with Parkinson’s?

Andy Hendrickson: former graduate student helper from one of earliest LIU PD-Exercise program:
 "I feel so blessed that I was given the opportunity to work with and learn from such amazing people and to get a glimpse into what it is like to live with Parkinson's disease. "
 We are currently living in Cheyenne Wyoming where I manage the Cheyenne Regional Fitness Center. Our facility is a commercial gym for the community, a corporate fitness center for hospital employees and a medical fitness center. I was told after I being hired that one of the things that stood out to the hiring committees was how passionately I spoke about my experience at LIU with the Brooklyn Parkinson's group."

David Spierer, Exercise Physiology Professor at  LIU, Brooklyn, NY:
Re: visits by PWP's (Persons with Parkinson’s) to my Exercise Physiology graduate classes:
Teaching theory only gets students so far. However, students taught from the perspective of the clinical patient will more readily acquire the clinical "pearls of wisdom" they so eagerly seek. Over the past 2 years, a teaching session to my curriculum including a presentation and personal discussion with a group of patients with Parkinsons; this allowed my students to see the application of what they were currently learning by putting a human face on a disease that is otherwise abstract. This experience engaged them in ways which will only benefit them when they become clinicians. 
As a bonus, several of my students are seriously thinking about working with specific clinical populations instead of with athletic populations or just the general public.

 From Yasser Salem, PT, PhD, NCS, PCS; Associate Professor
Physical Therapy; University of North Texas Health Science Center
From two of my former LIU students who attended class with PWP speakers visiting:
:
  • I have greater understanding of the disease.
  • I learned a lot about the disease and it was really interesting. It gave me a whole new perspective on PT and our roles in this disease. 

FURTHER (ANONYMOUS) SURVEY RESPONSES: