Special event to celebrate milestone for ‘lifeline’ North Devon support group

A pilot project set up in 2022 to support people in North Devon with Parkinson’s is celebrating a major milestone next month.

The Power UP! exercise and education group sessions at the Grosvenor Church in Barnstaple have supported 100 people during the last three years.

Set up by the Neurology team at North Devon District Hospital with support from the Northern Devon branch of Parkinson’s UK (PUK), the 11-week programme offers people with a recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s the chance to experience exercises that can improve their symptoms of the disease, as well as learn about medication management, mental health and diet.

The weekly two-hour sessions also give the person with Parkinson’s and their supporter the chance to develop an extended support network – this includes people with lived experience of supporting a person with Parkinson’s –crucial to help people to live life well with the disease.

Following the success of the pilot, the neurology team is now being supported by Royal Devon Hospitals Charity to raise £2,500 needed to pay for use of the rooms at the Grosvenor Church for the next 12 months.

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A celebratory Power UP! fundraising event is being held at the church to mark the success of the project from 10am to 12.30pm on Wednesday, July 23.

The event is open to any past participants and supporters of Power UP! Anyone wishing to attend is asked to email rduh.powerup@nhs.net

Guest speaker Richelle Flanagan has been diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson's Disease (YOPD) and will be sharing her journey and talking about the impact of diet.

Former BBC presenter Mark Mardell will be talking about his current campaign – The Parky Charter and his involvement in the Movers and Shakers podcast.

There will also be a short exercise session and Nick Ephgrave, PUK local support worker and Claire Cowen-Brown from Devon Carers will be giving brief summaries of their work with people with Parkinson’s.

A raffle will be held to support the fundraising by the Power UP! team.

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Suzanne Seymour, Parkinson’s specialist physiotherapist at NDDH, said: “Since its creation, the Power UP! programme has continued to evolve and is now supporting its ninth cohort of people with Parkinson’s, totalling more than 100 people.

“It has been an exciting pilot project to work on and is proving to be a lifeline to a lot of people who have engaged with the programme, and we hope that by securing funding for the rooms, it will continue to help those with future diagnosis of Parkinson’s.”

If you would like to make a donation to support the Power Up! project, please visit https://rdhc.enthuse.com/pf/power-up-parkinsons