2012 UPBEAT Weekend

The next UPBEAT Weekend will be held in Auckland, Friday 23 March (1:30 pm start) to Sunday 25 March (2 pm finish) at the Waipuna Hotel & Conference Centre in Mt Wellington.  

Please complete the Registration Form. Registrations close 23 February

Confirmed speakers –

Auckland neurologist Dr Barry Snow on “Medication: treatments and developments”

Dr John Parsons, School of Nursing, University of Auckland on "Goal Shifting"

Tara Martin, Physiotherapist, On the Go Physio, Christchurch, will discuss “LSVT Big”, a specialised Parkinson’s physiotherapy programme based on the same principles as the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) speech- language therapy.

Andrew Johnson and Nikki Matthews on "Useful Gadgets and Tools"

Other topics to be covered include: Dealing with Grief and Complementary Therapies.  There will also be practical sessions including Tai Chi with Oscar Getreuer.

This is a great opportunity for people with early-onset Parkinson's to learn about the condition and to meet other people.

"The best thing about attending the UPBEAT Weekend was just being around people who understood. It was refreshing not to be looked at funny, not to have to explain about Parkinson's or what's going on with me. It was also great for my wife to be able to talk to other partners who knew what she was experiencing.  We both learnt a lot and made some new friends"  AJ, Auckland UPBEAT member.

More details will be posted as they become available.  If you would like to know more about attending or to register please contact us on 0800 473 4636 or email info@parkinsons.org.nz

2010 UPBEAT Weekend

In November, Sandy and I attended our seventh UPBEAT weekend conference in Palmerston North, along with about 55 others from around the country. Even having attended so many UPBEAT weekends in the past 10 years, I can still say that I learnt new things and of course both met up with old friends and hopefully made new ones.

Dr Pietro Cariga, Neurologist, gave a good introductory overview of Parkinson's disease, medications and treatments. He gave quite a focus to the effects that some drugs can have in causing compulsive behaviours and the need to be aware of the degree to which this can occur. Doctors are not always good at explaining this to patients.

Similarly with the second topic on the Friday that looked at sexuality – another issue that some in the medical profession can have difficulty with or perhaps chose to ignore. I liked Dr Kirsteh Holst's summary: “we (doctors) may not be good about talking about sexuality, but there are things we can do to improve the situation if we know there are problems”. This issue, like many others, is a two – way street and is best faced by talking about it.

Eleni Nikolau, Psychiatrist from Waikato Hospital, gave an exceptional presentation on Saturday. She has a great ability to speak with empathy and compassion. She spoke on emotional issues in relation to Parkinson's – clarifying such things as depression, apathy and anxiety. There was much of interest in her talk but one thing that stuck in my mind was her description of individuals: the person you were before Parkinson's is still the same person after developing Parkinson's (notwithstanding that things have changed).

I think we can sometimes forget that as time goes on.

A lot of other good things happened on the weekend and these comments barely scratch the surface. If you can be at the next weekend that is organised I am confident you will learn a great deal and really enjoy the experience. 

Kevin Miles and Sandy Wright

 2009 UPBEAT Weekend

On the weekend of March 27-29 2009 50 UPBEAT members and their partners/friends arrived in Christchurch for an enjoyable and informative conference.

Sessions included Neurologist Dr Tim Anderson who spoke about Parkinson's medication and medical treatments, Psychiatrist Dr Matthew Croucher who led an interactive session about non-motor symptom,  physiotherapists Jessie Snowdon and Lucie Hartfield who spoke about exercise and led a number of practical sessions. The group also had plenty of time to share experiences and learn from each other.

The group gave overwhelmingly positive feedback about the event, with many new friends made.

“Being a first time member I found the three days just great. I learnt a lot and made many new friends who I hope to stay in contact with.”– Jan Burrows