How Allied Healthcare Professionals Can Help You

Every day, our friendly and knowledgeable staff are proud to offer information, resources, and referrals to people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and their loved ones across the province. To help you better understand how Parkinson Society BC (PSBC) can help you, we have compiled answers to some of the most common questions we receive.

What are allied healthcare professionals?

Allied Healthcare Professionals (AHCP) are any professionals in healthcare who are not doctors, nurses, or pharmacists. For example, in a hospital, they can include paramedics, ambulance technicians, radiographers, surgical technicians, and more.

How can allied healthcare professionals help treat Parkinson’s?

People with Parkinson’s benefit greatly from holistic care, with support from different professionals. While your general practitioner, nurse, neurologist, and pharmacist work together to diagnose you, prescribe medication, and manage your care, AHCP on your team can provide additional support in treating specific symptoms and issues. Below are some of the AHCP that can help people with PD.

Physiotherapists support people with Parkinson’s in managing their symptoms and maintaining their health and wellbeing through movement and manual therapy. They use evidence-based kinesiology to teach and prescribe functional exercise, which is known to significantly improve the condition of people with PD.

Occupational Therapists help their patients maintain and improve their ability to perform activities of daily living, like using the shower, bath, and washroom, dressing and undressing, shaving, brushing your teeth and hair, and feeding yourself. They also provide guidance in using assistive devices, and can recommend home and workplace adaptations.

Recreational Therapists use leisure-based interventions to maintain and improve patients’ symptoms, as well as social and mental wellbeing. They can use activities like sports, art, or dance as therapies, and support their patients in finding community resources.

Speech-Language Pathologists help people with PD manage their voice and swallowing challenges. They can help their patients strengthen a soft voice, or low vocal volume, and address other communication challenges. They also treat swallowing difficulties, which are the cause of aspiration pneumonia, the leading cause of death for people with PD.

Social Workers support their patients with Parkinson’s – as well as their families and carepartners – in living well while coping with the disease. Along with counselling, they provide guidance in navigating the healthcare system, support services, and relevant resources. They can also liaise with a patients’ healthcare team to help manage care and advocate for their needs.

Dieticians and Nutritionists help their patients manage healthy eating, and treat issues like disordered eating, weight, and diet-related health conditions. They can help people with PD find a diet that best works for them, taking into account any chewing and swallowing difficulties, digestive issues, medication side effects, and other PDrelated concerns they may experience.

Psychologists and Counsellors provide emotional and mental health support for people with Parkinson’s, and their carepartners, families, and friends. They use evidence-based therapies to treat depression, anxiety, compulsive behaviour, and other PD symptoms. They also provide support in navigating support services and resources.

Are there AHCP with Parkinson’s-specific training?

There are many Parkinson’s-specific programs and training opportunities available for AHCP. Here are a few common specializations:

Physiotherapists and occupational therapists can be trained in Parkinson Wellness Recovery. This program, also called PWR!, was developed by Dr. Becky Farley, using her 30 years of experience in neurorehabilitation. It uses research-based exercise programming to improve quality of life, from the point of diagnosis. The exercise moves taught as part of this regime are generalizable, customizable, assessable, and modifiable. As a result, they allow therapists to establish the program for life practice; to modify the positions and movements for varying levels of disease progression, fitness, or conditions; to progress the difficulty and complexity; and to integrate them into a comprehensive rehabilitation program with other research approaches.

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs), as well as physiotherapists and occupational therapists, can be certified in Lee Silverman Voice Treatment® (LSVT®️). LSVT® has two Parkinson’s-specific programs; one is LSVT® BIG, which is a behavioural treatment regimen designed to help people with PD re-train their movements. This program helps people with PD to produce larger motions, which can assist with balance and walking, freezing of gait, and activities of daily living. The other is LSVT® LOUD – used primarily by SLPs – which aims to increase vocal intensity in Parkinson’s. This is an intensive program, which uses vocal exercises to increase loudness and improve articulation, intonation, and confidence while speaking.

Parkinson’s-specific AHCP can be found in Movement Disorder Clinics, or treatment centres that focus on neurorehabilitation. Other independent AHCP can specialize in Parkinson’s through accreditation from programs such as Allied Team Training for Parkinson’s (ATTP®), which is provided by the Parkinson’s Foundation. ATTP® offers multiday courses, educating AHCP on Parkinson’s care, medication, and symptom management.

Other PD-specific programs, which can also be run by trained AHCP, include:

• Dance for PD. This program offers internationallyacclaimed dance classes for people with PD, which are accessible and customizable. Participants are empowered to explore music and movement in ways that are refreshing, enjoyable, stimulating, and creative.
• PD Warrior. This circuit-based exercise class focuses on high-amplitude, high-intensity, and high-effort movements to drive neuroplastic change in people with PD. The program encourages goalsetting and community support between fellow PD warriors, to help sustain long-term behaviour changes in an exercise-dominant lifestyle.
• SongShine. This music-based social program builds vocal ability with a holistic approach, integrating breath-awareness, body alignment, diction and articulation exercises, creative imagination, role-playing, and emotional engagement.
• Step by Step. This 12-week walking program is aimed at incrementally improving an individual’s average number of daily steps. Community leaders organize weekly walks, in which participants are encouraged to socialize, and increase their steps based on personal goals.
• Rock Steady Boxing. This non-profit organization helps people with PD improve their quality of life through non-contact boxing-based fitness curriculum. Adapted largely from boxing drills, this program conditions agility, speed, muscular endurance, accuracy, hand-eye coordination, footwork, and overall strength.

What are Movement Disorder Clinics?

Movement Disorder Clinics provide multidisciplinary support for people living with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders, including dystonia and essential tremor. These clinics often give patients access to a team of PD-trained specialists, including neurologists, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and SLPs.

The Movement Disorder Clinics located in British Columbia include:

• the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre, located at the University of British Columbia Vancouver Point Grey campus, at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health.
• the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care & Surgery Centre, located beside the campus of the Surrey Memorial Hospital.
• the Parkinson's and Movement Disorders Clinic, located in the Richmond Pavilion at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.
• the Okanagan Movement Disorder Program, located in the Walter Anderson Building at Kelowna General Hospital.

To access a Movement Disorder Clinic, you must have a referral from your general practitioner or neurologist.

PSBC refers people to programs that are held specifically for people with PD – we do not endorse specific trainers and/or fitness professionals. Any listing in the aforementioned documentation should not be considered an endorsement of the third-party event(s). As such, the Society cannot be held responsible or liable for any loss or damage suffered as a result of participation.

PSBC practices referring individuals to qualified health professionals with sufficient educational training. Health professionals such as a registered physiotherapist, can include exercises or interventions such as boxing that she or he as a health professional, judges are an advantage to her or his patients. These individuals have professional practice insurance and make judgements based on their professional training.

We will not refer to programs by name which require appropriate credentials such as Parkinson Wellness Recovery! (PWR!), Rock Steady Boxing, Dance for PD, or SongShine unless proof of credentials is provided to the Society.

This content was published in the Winter 2019 edition of our quarterly magazine, Viewpoints. The content was accurate as of this publication date.