Saint Mary’s Parkinson’s Service
Overview
Multidisciplinary Care
Medical Advances in Parkinson’s
Complementary Therapies
Saint Mary’s Parkinson’s Service is one of a few of its kind in the United States. Through collaborative arrangements with area partners, patients can receive a variety of services in one clinic location during a single visit. Services available include:
- Neurology
- Geriatrics
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Nutrition
- Education
- Rehabilitation (physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy)
- Social Services
- Alternative therapies
- Urology
- Wellness
[Back to top]
Why multidisciplinary care makes a difference
Our comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach is particularly effective, because Parkinson’s disease affects each patient differently.
As in other Saint Mary’s centers of excellence, such as cancer and diabetes, Saint Mary’s Parkinson’s Service places the patient in the center of a team of providers who work together to address the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of patients and their families.]
This multidisciplinary model addresses the body not as a home for symptoms, but as a combination of many complex systems, each with different needs. Ultimately, this model of integrated medicine is more effective for the patient.
Benefits of Multidisciplinary Care
Saint Mary’s uses a centralized approach to health care because it has been shown to provide measurably improved outcomes. At Saint Mary’s, all providers, working at one site, communicate with each other in real time to develop appropriate treatment plans.
“In terms of Parkinson’s disease, we have the only multidisciplinary clinic in Western Michigan,” says Leslie Neuman, M.D., medical director of the Parkinson’s Service. “We have more experience in dealing with Parkinson’s than anyone else. We offer the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach. It’s a different approach to care that is better for the patient.”
Patients seen at the Parkinson’s Clinic can access a wide array of treatment options:
- initial evaluation
- consultation
- treatment
- medical management
- rehab services
- counseling
- support groups
- education for patients and their families
A tentative list of providers would include the following, in a configuration in which they surround the patient to provide coordinated care for all symptoms.
[Back to top]
Medical advances
Patients at the Parkinson’s Clinic can receive the latest treatment options. In 2004, Saint Mary’s began offering a new neurosurgical option known as deep brain stimulation (DBS). DBS has fewer risks than traditional surgical methods. In DBS, an electrode is surgically implanted into the brain to deliver electrical pulses that block abnormal activity and alleviate symptoms. The electrode is attached to a device similar to a cardiac pacemaker that is placed below the collarbone and programmed for individual patient needs.
[Back to top]
Complementary therapies help Parkinson’s disease
In conjunction with The Wege Institute at Saint Mary’s, the Parkinson’s Service at Saint Mary’s integrates complementary therapies into patients’ overall treatment program. These therapies provide a new dimension of care for Parkinson’s patients, with healing benefits for mind, spirit and body.
Beneficial complementary therapies include:
- acupuncture
- manual therapy
- massage therapy
- music therapy
- neurofeedback
- Tai Chi
Learn more about how complementary therapies facilitate healing and provide profound benefits to patients with neurological disorders.
Our approach to Parkinson’s disease is cohesive and comprehensive. And that helps Parkinson’s patients enjoy the maximum benefits from today’s most promising advances in medicine.
Learn more about Parkinson’s disease.
[Back to top] |
