The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

KINGDOR National Parkinson Foundation is trying to get assistance from the Ministry of Health to set up a national register for the number of people with Parkinson’s disease.

The foundation’s president, Marvis Darling-Hill, explained yesterday at the foundation’s press conference announcing its Moving Day 2020 event that organisers have put forth applications and reached out to the medical community to set one up.

She added: “We’ve even attempted to go directly to doctors ….. but a lot of the doctors in the Bahamas unfortunately feel that we’re just going to run and take these people to the United States and whatever.

“We would love to continue to deal to with that aspect of it because it’s very important but remember much is unknown about Parkinson’s disease. We really would like to get our register together so we would know – have an idea – as to the number of persons with this disease. Now this disease….it’s a silent disease. It’s a closet disease and so we are concerned with that people really learn as much as they can about it.”

Neurologist and foundation committee member Dr Edwin Demeritte revealed he sees five to ten new cases annually and estimated about 1,500 people have the condition.

He said: “It’s long past time that you know we do need to establish a national register so we can actually we can keep a close eye on it.”

Dr Demeritte, however, noted it is hard to calculate data of individuals suffering from the disease as there several factors such as people seeking medical assistance in the US and others with Parkinson’s not coming forth to seek help.

Both Dr Demeritte and Ms Darling-Hill noted the difficulty of diagnosing the disease, but individuals with two or three cardinal symptoms associated with the condition are considered to have it.

The symptoms are tremors of the hands, arms, legs, or jaw; rigidity or stiffness of the limbs; slowness of movement, and postural instability (impaired balance).

One factor for developing the condition Dr Demeritte identified was age: “The older you are the more likely you are to get it, if you start at 60 years of age by the seventh decade you double the prevalence rate of your Parkinson’s disease and going into 80 the same you have a doubling effect.”

While the average age of Parkinson’s onset is 60, symptoms can happen before the age of 40. He also stressed that Parkinson’s is not fatal and people live a full life span, but support is needed.

He explained: “So when you look at somebody who is you know (has) Parkinson’s disease who’s being treated, 75 – 79, they live a full life span. Now the difficulty which you have is taking care of somebody who has Parkinson’s disease requires a lot of commitment, requires a lot of effort and when you look at the expense whether it be from the medications some of the care that they do – it is a family disease which requires full family support.”

The foundation is focused on not only helping those affected by the disease but spreading awareness about the disorder.

April has been reserved as Parkinson’s Awareness Month. The foundation’s Moving Day, a major fund raiser, is back after a two-year absence. The event includes a 3k non-competitive walk, 5k competitive run/walk, and 10k competitive run/ cycle which will be held on Saturday March 28, starting at 6am at Montagu Beach park.

Registration is open and can be done on www.kingsdorpf.com or contact (242) 326 5291 for more information.