3/2/2009

The Kentucky Center Brings Internationally renowned Dance Group to Frazier Rehab

for Parkinson's Patients

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release:
March 2, 2009

For More Information:
Barbara Mackovic, Media Relations
(502) 597-4230 or Barbara.Mackovic@jhsmh.org

The Kentucky Center Brings Internationally renowned Dance Group
to Frazier Rehab for Parkinson’s Patients

(Louisville, KY)   The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts and Frazier Rehab Institute are hosting a “Dance for Parkinson’s,” a free therapeutic dance class for Frazier’s patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease.  The class is on Saturday, March 7, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at Frazier Rehab Institute, 220 Abraham Flexner Way.

The Kentucky Center, through a transformational grant from the Humana Foundation in partnership with the Fund for the Arts will bring the internationally renowned Brooklyn-based Mark Morris Dance Group to Frazier for this free interactive class for Parkinson’s patients and their caregivers and families.

As defined by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts in Healthcare “is an international movement that works to infuse the full spectrum of the arts into healthcare settings, including design, visual, performing and literary arts, resulting in programs and healthcare environments that are welcoming and uplifting for caregivers, patients, their families and visitors.”

The power of Arts in Healthcare is demonstrated by compelling patient histories and validated by remarkable evidence-based research. Not only do arts interventions create a healing environment and improve the quality of patient care and outcomes, they have been shown to shorten hospital stays, reduce pain medication, increase staff satisfaction and retention and ensure effective and efficient use of healthcare dollars.

Participants will be led through stretches and progressive relaxation exercises. This dance class is not a toned-down therapy session, but is physically demanding and artistically exacting. It allows patients and their caregiver or family member to dance in chairs, at a barre, or standing.  In addition, it allows them to explore dance movement.

Fifty thousand Americans are diagnosed each year with Parkinson's disease. Many people in the early stages of Parkinson ’s disease mistakenly view their symptoms as a result of normal aging and fail to see a physician.  Some forms of Parkinson ’s disease are affecting people under the age of 50.

A central nervous system disorder, Parkinson’s often impairs the sufferer’s motor skills and speech. The therapy cannot reverse the course of the illness, but it can help ease its effects. The music can provide them with what they lack, tempo, rhythm and organized time to wake up those nerves and help with balance.
Media interested in attending, please call Barbara Mackovic at 502-641-5461.  For an interview with a Mark Morris Dance Group, contact Susan Moremen at 562-0164.

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About Frazier Rehab Institute’s Movement Disorder Program
Through a unique partnership between Frazier Rehab Institute and the University of Louisville Division of Movement Disorders, the Movement Disorders Program at Frazier provides a comprehensive clinical approach to care for individuals with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.  This collaboration brings together world-class research with innovative therapeutic care and education that has been recognized by the National Parkinson Foundation as a Center of Excellence, the highest designation awarded.