For most of us, we have never taken a course on caregiving. Do we even really know what it means to be a care partner? Perhaps we have cared for parents or other family members, and we are familiar with how to navigate this - but for some, it is an entirely new experience.
At the PAA, we believe education is power. That is why we have invested so heavily into the content we are making available on our new website and resource center launching in March of 2023.
We will be giving a sneak peak of the care partner section of this new resource at our February Care Partner Support Group meeting which will take place on zoom, Tuesday, February 14th at 7pm. Check your PAA newsletters for the zoom link, or contact Brooklyn White at brooklyn@parkinsonalabama.org if you wish to attend.
Being a care partner can be very time consuming. Our goal at the PAA is to do the heavy lifting for you so that you can find the most important information you need to know about Parkinson's in one place - at the resource center, or through our blog series and support groups. We also constantly observe new research and updates from the many Parkinson's National Associations and incorporate new information frequently as available.
We offer many educational programs for care partner opportunities throughout the year, from hosting an annual Parkinson's Patient Symposium which will take place on Friday, March 10th at the Pelham Civic Center (8;30 a.m. - 3:00 pm) to hosting a monthly Care Partner only Support Group on Zoom the second Tuesday of each month at 7pm. During these times, you are able to learn more about the latest local updates and research, as well as chat with others on the same journey to share helpful resources.
We also encourage you to plug into local, in person support groups and attend appointments with your loved ones impacted by PD to learn as much as possible.
For a more hand's on caregiving class, The Parkinson's Foundation offers a FREE Care Partner program called Building a Care Partnership. This program is designed by and for Parkinson's disease family care partners and consists of many self-paced online courses, created for anyone caring for someone living with Parkinson's. Every course offers flexible programming with videos, journal prompts, and opportunities to hear from care partners about the topics most important to them, including mood, cognition, caregiver burnout, and more. To learn more or to register, visit: https://www.parkinson.org/events/2022/Nov16WW.
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