Making Life with Parkinson's Easier
January 1, 2021
Already active in a local Parkinson’s disease support group, the Bergens couldn’t wait for Delay the Disease to begin.
“We wanted all the help we could get,” says Maureen Bergen, whose husband, Bob, received an official diagnosis of Parkinson’s two years ago after symptoms of the disease had gradually progressed. Twenty-two-year residents of Lady’s Island, the couple moved to the Lowcountry from Connecticut.
For people with PD, everyday life can be both hard and lonely. LifeFit Wellness Services is doing its best to change that with Delay the Disease, a nationally recognized fitness and mobility program expressly designed by specialists at OhioHealth for men and women with Parkinson’s. The program was launched at Beaufort Memorial in 2018.
Each Monday and Wednesday some 25 participants gather in the LifeFit group exercise room for the popular Delay the Disease class led by LifeFit wellness coaches and certified program instructors Seth Hunter and Jason Graham. At $5 per class, it’s a bargain.
Like most exercise classes, this one begins with a warm- up. Participants are seated for the dynamic stretching that loosens them up and prepares them for the brief total-body cardio workout that follows. The goal, says Jason, is to get everybody “a little bit breathless.”
There’s hard science behind that, he adds. The mild stress caused by the exertion primes the brain to relearn skills.
So next come the crux moves, the exercises that zero in on PD symptoms like tremor, muscle stiffness, slowed movement and changes in speech. The exercises aim to improve strength, balance, agility, flexibility and confidence—and “they’re good for everybody,” says Maureen, one of the several caregivers who regularly attend the class.
After the concluding cool-down, “you feel like you’ve been to the gym,” Jason says. What’s more, the class offers participants an opportunity to connect with others navigating Parkinson’s often-rocky terrain.
Delay the Disease helps him keep moving, says Bob, a young-looking 82, who knows from experience that “motion is very, very important” for people with PD. And the class provides him with welcome motivation, he says. “It’s a carrot to hang out there.”
In no small part class participants like the Bergens have Scott Rider, a Habersham resident with Parkinson’s who’s a mover and shaker on the national PD scene, to thank for the local program. Indefatigable in his efforts to raise awareness about the disease—and funds for patient care and research—Scott arranged through a friend for the introduction to Beaufort Memorial CEO Russell Baxley that got the program going. Behind it all the way has been Beaufort Memorial neurologist Dr. Norman Bettle.
“We started to get people left and right,” mostly through word of mouth and stories in the local press, says Seth.
So great has demand for Delay the Disease become—its membership now stands at 45—that Beaufort Memorial plans to expand it this summer.
As a first step, David Zid, the program’s co-founder, will travel from OhioHealth in June to train and certify all LifeFit-based wellness coaches and physical therapists. More instructors will mean smaller class size and more individualized instruction.
During class Delay the Disease instructors are careful to explain “why we do what we do” and how each exercise can help, Jason says. Often he’ll see lightbulbs go on.
Later participants will tell him how they’ve incorporated what they’ve learned into their daily lives. Maybe they’ve improved their ability to get out of bed or dress independently, write legibly or rise from a chair or move with ease in a crowd. That, he says, “is what I’ve loved most” about the program.
Seth agrees. “I want participants to become healthier versions of themselves,” he says. “I want to teach them how to be as big as possible.”
Learn more about Delay the Disease classes at LifeFit Wellness Center and call 843-522-5635 to sign up.