Summer is here, time for more Maine PD News. We first launched the site in April, 2016 and since then we have experienced about 7500 visits. And, the number of subscribers is growing rapidly. We are happy to see it. For both methods, we have tried to keep the interaction as uncomplicated as possible, and have had a lot of good feedback from readers. Though this talk we have also come to realize the layout of the website may still not be as user-friendly as it could be.
Changes to the Website
We are looking into making some changes to the way the website is navigated and organized. Whatever changes there are, most visitors seem to find using the search tool to be helpful. If you want to find information on a specific topic, then please try a search. We also try to post upcoming events in the PD community of Maine. If you have an event, please let us know via the Contact Us button. We have additionally found that very few people download a .pdf of the entire issue and we stopped producing that format after the winter issue. We will probably take down the Facebook site as it is not apparently useful to the PD community (and frankly, since it comes down to me, I am not good at setting up articles on FB). Finally, we would like to use this space as a table of contents for the summer issue, and a place to discuss current events.
In This Issue
- We will try to tackle the question of whether there is any link between Lyme disease and PD. This is actually a fairly common topic in the office, and apparently for some it is a contentious subject. Reviewing this area raises several points about how we investigate issues and evaluate information in science.
- We will discuss the important points and laws around driving, a daily conversation in the neurology office.
- We review the history of levodopa as a treatment over the last 50 years. That article concludes with new formulations on the horizon.
- We will learn about PD exercise intervention in the Belfast area.
Current Events/In the News
This June Drs. Sarah Dodwell, Markos Poulopoulos, Michael Kleinman, and I met in Vancouver, BC for the annual International Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Society Meeting. The event was attended by 4200 registrants from 90 countries and featured a week-long packed schedule of basic science lectures, research presentations, and discussion of other advances. There were 1000s of abstracts presented as well as thought-provoking unusual case presentations. I think we all took away a lot of new information and felt inspired by the conference and the staggering amount of research going on worldwide. However, progress is under threat in this country. In fact, among other groups, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has opposed the White House position on funding of research noting, “The Trump administration released its FY2018 budget proposal which calls for drastic cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and other federal agencies tasked with health care research and safety.” Likewise, the BRAIN Initiative sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee to request increased funding. The letter was also signed by ten senators, one of whom was Susan Collins. To learn more visit https://www.aan.com/public-policy/capitol-hill-report/june-12-2017/
Further, in a related topic which comes up daily in the clinic, the AAN opposes the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) of 2017 introduced in the Senate “as it will limit access to care for patients with neurologic disease.” To learn more visit https://www.aan.com/public-policy/capitol-hill-report/current-capitol-hill-report/
The AAN was joined by multiple other medical associations across the country, including the largest, the American Medical Association (AMA), whose CEO James Madara has written that the legislation violates the precept of “first do no harm” on many levels. He was quoted on CNN to say “We believe that Congress should be working to increase the number of Americans with access to quality, affordable health insurance instead of pursuing policies that have the opposite effect...” Dr. David Barbe, the president of the AMA was quoted on NPR to say “… does it improve coverage? No. Does it improve affordability? No. Does it stabilize the safety net? Medicaid? No.” Some other organizations opposing the bill include: American Hospital Association, AARP, American Heart Association, American Association of Medical Colleges, American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, National Association of Medicaid Doctors, American Psychiatric Association, Federation of American Hospitals, American Lung Association, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. The Michael J Fox Foundation issued a “FoxFlash” email the final week of June calling for “Urgent Action Needed: Tell the Senate to Vote ‘No’ on the Health Care Bill.” The notice states that the bill would “seriously negatively impact countless Americans living with Parkinson’s disease (PD), especially older individuals and those who rely on Medicaid.” Lastly, June 22 when the bill was revealed, Senator Angus King went to Facebook with a video statement that the new healthcare bill “… basically increases the cost of health care, particularly for seniors, massively cuts Medicaid, which supports people in nursing homes, disabled people, children, it is a really cruel bill…and it’s going to have a devastating effect economically in Maine on our hospitals and our rural healthcare system…”
