In 2022, our efforts to bring more resources, stories and helpful articles to Canadians impacted by Parkinson’s amounted to reaching tens of thousands of people online. Reflecting on a year where we prioritized sharing and publishing more than ever before, here is a roundup of the stories and resources that you – our readers – loved most.
Top impact story
In gearing up for 2022’s SuperWalk, we connected with Will Isaak-Kulesza, a 12-year-old SuperWalker who has been participating in the event since he was two in support of his grandfather who lived with Parkinson’s. To date, Will has raised over 11 thousand dollars to support Canadians living with Parkinson’s.
This inspirational young man reached the hearts of many by sharing his story with us, leading him to participate in the event’s virtual opening ceremony. Read more about how Will honours his grandfather year after year with his hard work and creativity to fundraise for Canadians living with Parkinson’s.
Most requested resource
Of all the resources offered through the Parkinson Canada website, the resource most requested by website visitors and callers in 2022 was the newly released Canadian edition of Every Victor Counts®.
Since its inception in 2010, Every Victory Counts® published by the Davis Phinney Foundation has gained international recognition as an outstanding and comprehensive resource devoted to the principle of self-care and a holistic approach to managing Parkinson’s. As the Davis Phinney Foundation is based in the USA, the book reflected the state of Parkinson’s in the USA.
Thanks to a partnership between the Davis Phinney Foundation and Parkinson Canada, Canadians gained access to a fully Canadianized version of this invaluable book in the summer of 2022.
With contributions by 50 leading Parkinson’s physicians, allied health professionals, and Canadians living with Parkinson’s, this edition transforms the must-have book with Canadian-specific statistics, references to medications approved by Health Canada, information on long-term care, legal and financial planning as it pertains to Canadians, and more!
Download the Canadian edition Every Victor Counts® here
Most attended webinar
The first webinar of 2022, Medication Management, held the highest number of attendees of any other webinar. Not only did this webinar bring in the new year with the most attendees, the recording of the webinar continued to reach Canadians impacted by Parkinson’s all throughout 2022!
We were joined by Dr. Tejal Patel, BSc Pharm, PharmD, and Bryce Perry, Information and Referral Manager at Parkinson Canada.
Dr. Patel spoke about her research and clinical practice, which focuses on pharmacotherapy and pharmacist impact on the management of medication among older adults, including people living with Parkinson’s.
Bryce Perry spoke to his own experience with managing medication and resources available for answering questions about medication and medication management.
Watch the webinar below:
Top research story
In 2022, we amped up our efforts to bring more news about the state of Parkinson’s research for those interested in learning more about it.
In the summer, we published a piece to shine a light on the treatments currently making their way through the clinical trial pipeline. This research-centric piece caught the eye of the most amount of readers on our blog compared to any other post, not just those of a research nature. What we learned is that research updated specific to treatments and trials are of great interest to our audiences and we will continue to lean into these kinds of research updates in the future.
Read the Promising Treatments in the 2022 Parkinson’s Clinical Trials Pipelike
Coming in the new year…
The growth in readership and requests for resources through our Information and Referral team, and from our website all point to one thing: people impacted by Parkinson’s want access to more information, stories and connection with others also impacted by it.
In the new year, we will continue to publish helpful resources and personal stories that raise the voices of people living with Parkinson’s while leaning into the expressed interest in research-based information, as well.
To each and every reader who visited our blog in 2022, thank you for being here, for commenting with your feedback and for helping steer the direction of our future content efforts.