Mid-West Branch

Upcoming Events for the Mid-West

PARKINSON’S  ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND

MID-WEST BRANCH

Great news from the Midwest. Mr Michael Noonan Minister for Finance will perform the "Turning of the Sod" event at 11 am 21st May at the Midwest Regional Hospital. This lays the foundation for the new Neurological /Acute Stroke facility in Limerick.

This project has been spearheaded by the Midwest Branch of the Parkinson's Association of Ireland. Once this unit is completed all our patients, who are admitted to hospital, will enjoy the state of the art center with fully trained Parkinson's  nurse specialists. .

With a physio room and other therapy facilities our patients will start their rehab care while still in hospital.

This facility is fully funded with combined funds from the Midwest Branch Parkinson's Association and the J.P.McManus Pro Am Committee.

Many thanks to all concerned.

Members of the Mid West Voice Club were both happy and sad at the news that Aisling O'Gorman, our much loved Vocal Coach has moved to Dublin. Aisling takes up a prestigious new position with ‘The Ark’ Children’s Project in Temple Bar as Music Programmer. During the past 3 years Aisling has become familiar with the foibles, the offs and ons, the lethargy and enthusiasm of the ‘movers and shakers’ of our little group. Her unfailing high spirits and commitment brought us to a point where we dared to perform on occasions like the Christmas lunch and the Information Day in Ennis. Apart from the importance of learning how to "speak up", the Voice Club became a source of energy and was an important social outlet for all of us.
We have also recently recommenced our aqua aerobics classes again and these are well attended. Our picture, above, looks a little out of place in the current cold weather, but the sessions are well worth attending.
 

A very innovative way to raise awareness and funds has been launched by the Midwest Branch. An online song writing competition in aid of Parkinson’s Association of Ireland is being run by Music4you.ie. The hope of the organisers is that it will put Parkinson's out onto the airwaves where more people will talk about the condition and reach new patients who need support. The event is organised by Music4you.ie with the aid of ILoveLimerick.com, the song writing competition is sponsored by the Limerick Leader, Limerick’s Live 95FM, Music Therapy Ireland, Red Door Productions, Maurice Gunning Photography, music and www.Buildermonkey.com.
This online event will engage songwriters from all parts of Ireland. The prize is valued at €10,000, giving the winner an opportunity to hone their musical skills and image through various mediums including a state of the art web site, a full photo promo shoot with renowned Limerick photographer Maurice Gunning, a style makeover, a video shoot with ILoveLimerick.com and the winning song will be recorded and produced by Dave Keary of Red Door Productions in Limerick City. The winner will also receive a PA system sponsored by XMusic.
The talented panels of judges include singer songwriter John Spillane, acclaimed writer and former Eurovision Song winner, Shay Healy and singer and journalist Leanne Moore. For more details go to www.facebook.com/music4you.ie and see ‘Song Competition’ for more details. The winner will be announced on March 1st 2012.
 

Dates for our Bridge Evening and our next Golf Classic haven't been confirmed yet. If anyone would like to help us in anyway with the various activities, just call one of the committee members. A special thanks to Tina O'Gorman who has come forward to help our fundraising and a very special thanks to Richard Lynch who has put the Midwest Branch out into the public eye. His Mum Florence has Parkinson's and so he has a special insight into the right approach to raise awareness.

What do the Midwest Branch need funds for?

We set up the Parkinson's Nurse Specialist Service some years ago. It has been a huge success with more and more patients availing of the service. But our nurse, Mags Richardson, found that more of her time was going to paperwork leaving a restricted amount of time for patient’s visits. We were lucky to have Mags' service part hospital/part community based, which needs an appointment service.

The Midwest Branch decided to appoint and pay for a secretary to support Mags. Our secretary makes appointments, records all the patient data on a special database provided by the branch and operates a help line. An information afternoon for the patients is arranged by our secretary on the 1st Tuesday of every month. The result is a more professional service but costly. All our funds go to implement this service.

Check out our Facebook page http://www.parkinsons.ie/midwest

Branch Officers

Special projects committee: Una Anderson Ryan (Chair), Eddie Butler (Treasurer) & Sid Rellis.

Follow Us