Speaker Siobhan O'Hare (Parkinson's)

Rotary club of Stirling  29th September 2017

The meeting opened with the sad news of the death, earlier this week, of
Pat Farquharson wife of our SVP Sandy. Colin Bayes reminded us of up
coming Gavel events on 12th, 23rd, and 30th October for which we still
need some contestants. President Stewart Wilson introduced our speaker
Siobhan O'Hare from Parkinson's Scotland. Siobhan covers all of Scotland
where there are 20,000 patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. It is
known that the neurotransmitter Dopamine is involved but the root cause
is yet to be discovered, and numbers are increasing partly due the
rising number of the population over 65, but there are also younger
patients who may require extra help if they are still working.  Apart
from the well-known tremor, Parkinson's can present in a wide variety of
ways affecting all aspects of the patient's life. Despite not being
uncommon, the numbers fall far short of suffers from cancer or heart
disease, and consequently it does not attract as much funding for
research, treatment and day to day support. Because of this Parkinson's
Scotland works locally, focusing on advice, networking, specialist
nurses and helplines. Each patient's needs are different requiring an
individual approach, accurate diagnosis, and good consultant support.
Even then continuing control can be hard to achieve, and the balance
between control and side effects difficult.   Edmond Mansion, whose wife
suffers from Parkinson's disease, gave a very moving vote of thanks.

Next week's meeting 6th October speaker's host Jane Wilson, visitor's
host David Paterson.  For more info www.stirling.rotary1010.org

Ian Richardson