The Parkinson’s Health Center at STARS Rehab receives $25,000 community grant
What do Ozzy Osbourne, Alan Alda, Neil Diamond and Michael J. Fox have in common? They are among the nearly 1 million people in the U.S. living with Parkinson’s disease.
Area residents who have been diagnosed with PD have increased support as the result of a $25,000 community grant to The Parkinson’s Health Center at STARS Rehab. It is the center’s second award.
Parkinson’s, a progressive disease of the central nervous system, is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s and the 14th-leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. It is associated with a progressive loss of motor control (e.g., shaking or tremors at rest, slowness and stiffness, quiet voice and lack of facial expression), as well as non-motor symptoms (such as depression and anxiety).
In St. Johns County, those who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s receive hope in slowing down the progression through programs offered at STARS Rehab’s St. Augustine Beach location. It is the only place in Northeast Florida that has a free-standing health center designed exclusively for people living with the disease.
The PD wellness program was started and is coordinated by Physical Therapist Melanie Lomaglio. Now in its second year, there are 60-plus people participating in its free programming. The youngest participant is 50 and the oldest is in his early 80s.
“Socialization is important,” Lomaglio said, “because when people stop interacting it can accelerate the disease’s progression.”
She tailored classes so that the participants not only “work hard and sweat” through exercise classes, but interact and laugh with one another during speech classes.
“The goal is to teach restorative and/or preventative exercises to address posture, slowness, muscle stiffness, axial rotation, strength, endurance, balance, voice and cognitive abilities,” she said.
Three of the Parkinson center’s physical therapists and Harley, the facility’s dog, work with patients one-on-one in rehabilitation and then move them into wellness classes to maintain their improved mobility.
Because Parkinson’s affects speech and swallow function, the speech therapist also has classes such as Loud Crowd and Sing out Loud to address these problems.
Lomaglio holds a clinical doctorate in physical therapy, a master’s in rehabilitation science, and is a board-certified neurologic physical therapy specialist. She not only developed these free wellness programs, but has also been running a support group for both patients and their families which has been in existence for more than a decade.
“Our work would not be possible without the support of the Parkinson’s Foundation,” Lomaglio said.
“Last year’s programming focused on providing access to free multi-leveled group exercise and voice training classes to provide an extension to one-on-one physical and speech therapy to help people maintain the gains made during rehab,” she said. “This year’s grant will allow the existing program to continue, but it will also focus on reconnecting people and improving mental health to help combat the loneliness and isolation that the pandemic created.”
“Recent research has revealed that poor social health is associated with a faster disease progression and that the known benefit of exercise on motor symptom control may be negated by loneliness,” she said.
To learn about the program, visit starsrehab.org/parkinsons-exercise-and-wellness-program.
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: St. Augustine Beach STARS Rehab receives grant for Parkinson's program
