Parkinsons's Disease Collaboration Helps Patients and Families
National Parkinson Foundation Project - 2004
The Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders Centerat the Keck Schol of Medicine, University of Southern California (The Center) delivers comprehensive care to individuals suffering from Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders in a caring and compassionate environment utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, leading-edge research findings and highly-trained staff and clinicians. Approximately 2400 patients currently utilize The Center’s clinical services. The Center is the largest of its type in the region and offers a full spectrum of services to meet the various needs of individuals who suffer from Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. The Center excels at providing comprehensive care regarding the medical and treatment side of Parkinson’s, but is lacking in provided services that address the social/non-medical service needs of its clients.
The proposed program will increase The Center’s staff’s current set of knowledge and expand their skill set so that they may better serve PD individuals and families to meet their specific needs. This program will establish the link for many to community information and support. This program aims to connect PD individuals and families to community information and support to meet their specific needs by increasing The Center’s staff’s current set of knowledge and expanding their skill set. Partners will bring its strengths in leadership, social work, case management and community resources and referral to guide The Center. Through this partnership we will work together over the next two years and beyond to systematically identify the top needs of PD patients and to then develop and to carry out a more comprehensive approach to care for the PD individual and their family to better address these needs.
Partners joined The Center’s clinic leadership to conduct a needs assessment with their patients, identify primary unmet needs and help develop links to key community resources and develop sustainable staffing strategies to complete their services by building a system to address the psychosocial, supportive and related service needs of PD patients.
