Build your team

Tips for Building a Successful Parkinson’s Care Team

Your Role

As a person living with Parkinson’s, you are uniquely qualified to share your perspective, and important information, with your family physician and other members of your healthcare team, such as your pharmacist or physical therapist.  Keeping members of your health team well informed about your own state of health, as well as using and sharing the latest Parkinson’s resources from Parkinson Canada, will help ensure that you receive individualized care. 

We have great tools to help you, your doctor and other healthcare professionals, as well as their other Parkinson’s patients, understand, treat and live with Parkinson’s. We suggest you and your physician begin with our online resources. For those individuals without internet access, we operate an Information and Referral line, which can be reached at 1-888-664-1974

Physicians

Developed for healthcare professionals by Canada’s leading experts on Parkinson’s, we want every physician to know about the Canadian Guidelines on Parkinson’s Disease. These guidelines, developed by Parkinson Canada, are available at no cost.  

Parkinson Canada is continually reaching out to health care professionals, through their professional associations and publications and by attending and presenting at their national conferences.

“By reaching out to health care professionals directly, and providing them with relevant resources for themselves and their patients, we hope to elevate the standard of care for Canadians with Parkinson’s,” says Grace Ferrari. “It is also our hope that more physicians will recognize the early signs of Parkinson’s, leading to an earlier diagnosis. The sooner treatment of symptoms begins, the better quality of life a person living with Parkinson’s can have.” 

The next time you visit your doctor, or another member of your healthcare team, consider passing along this article to them. If you have their e-mail address, why not forward them this resource with a personal note, encouraging them to check out Parkinson Canada’s healthcare professional resources before your next appointment?