In the studio (l-r): Parkinson’s Foundation volunteer Heidi Rosenberg tells radio listeners
about her fundraising venture Pretzels for Parkinson’s while Stuart Perlin,
Dr. Cenk Sengun and Jeff Dowd look on.
Paula Detwiller/The Coastal Star
By Paula Detwiller
Parkinson’s disease has made its way into the national conversation thanks to the openness and advocacy of public figures diagnosed with the disease: Muhammad Ali, Michael J. Fox, Billy Graham, Janet Reno and, most recently, Linda Ronstadt.
Now the disease has made its way onto local talk radio. Volunteers Jeff Dowd and Stuart Perlin host the Parkinson’s Radio Hour at 8 a.m. every Saturday on WBZT-AM 1230 in West Palm Beach.
“We thought it would be a great way to focus attention on the Parkinson’s community and help them improve their quality of life,” says Dowd, a financial adviser from Boca Raton and board member of the South Palm Beach County chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation. Perlin, his co-host, is a retired Boca Raton insurance executive who serves as executive director of the chapter.
A main message of the talk show is that while there’s no cure for Parkinson’s, its progression can be slowed — and there is hope on the horizon. The program debuted Oct. 5 with in-studio guests Dr. Cenk Sengun, a neurologist with offices in Boca Raton and Miami who discussed the latest Parkinson’s medications and their potential side effects, and foundation board member Heidi Rosenberg, who raises money for Parkinson’s research through her nonprofit corporation, Pretzels for Parkinson’s.
Perlin weighed in with information about exercise, speech therapy, yoga and tai chi classes offered by the foundation, along with a plug for the chapter’s annual “Moving Day” fundraiser scheduled for Nov. 10 in Boca Raton.
“We raised $77,000 last year, and our goal is to double that amount this year,” Perlin told listeners.
For Dowd, 60, and Perlin, 53, Parkinson’s is personal. Both watched it slowly erode the quality of life of one of their parents. “When I was 10, I was playing baseball with my dad and he tripped over the bag,” says Perlin. “I asked him what happened and he said, ‘My legs didn’t listen to me.’ That was 1970. He wasn’t diagnosed until 1983. He lived 35 years with Parkinson’s.”
Dowd’s mother had been an active schoolteacher and guidance counselor, only to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s the year she retired.
“My stepfather ended up taking care of her for 16 years. After he passed, she began to get dementia and we put her in a nursing home. She had pneumonia 15 times. She died last year, at 78,” Dowd says.
Perlin says the talk show represents the right communications forum at the right time in the right place. First of all, most Parkinson’s patients are in the demographic that still listens to AM radio. Secondly, a full 10 percent of the U.S. population with Parkinson’s disease lives in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
“That’s scary,” he says, but quickly points out that this region also holds great promise for finding a cure.
“Between Scripps, Max Planck, Sanford-Burnham and all the biotech researchers, South Florida is one of the leading medical research corridors in the world — and it is our intention to explore any and all areas of Parkinson’s education and research on our show.”
To listen, tune your radio to AM 1230, or (for the best reception in the South County area) listen online at www.wbzt.com. Find the local chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation at www.npfsouth palmbeach.org.
IF YOU GO
What: Moving Day Boca Raton: An annual fundraising walk to benefit the National Parkinson Foundation and its South Palm Beach County Chapter.
When: 8 a.m. Nov. 10.
Where: FAU Stadium. Teams of walkers will do laps around the perimeter while volunteers inside the stadium host exercise activities, entertainment, and information-sharing at the “Moving Pavilion.”
Cost: Free and open to the public. Breakfast and lunch items available.
For more information: www.movingdaybocaraton.org.
Paula Detwiller is a freelance writer and lifelong fitness junkie. Visit her at www.pdwrites.com.
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