During the first annual Parkinson’s Bootcamp on Aug. 5-7, patients and their loved ones were able to put all the pieces together.

The three-day bootcamp, with 10 patients from Powell and Cody and their caregivers or loved ones, was a multidisciplinary effort out of Powell Valley Healthcare with speech-language therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy all working together to educate patients living with Parkinson’s. 

Occupational Therapist Kinsey Baxter was not prepared to see the improvements she did out of the trio of three-hour sessions.

“I think just seeing small improvements from being able to get up from chairs in three days and take bigger steps,” Baxter said. 

The idea first came about after an article was published to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), Speech Language Pathologist Brittany Asay said. 

“There was an article about a similar program at a university, and they called it Parkinson’s bootcamp, and it was multidisciplinary and just seemed like a really good service for the community,” she said.

There was a need in the community for a program like this, Asay said, and LSVT-BIG, used by physical and occupational therapists for patients with Parkinson’s and SPEAK OUT!, used by speech pathologists, could be combined. 

“If [doctors are] more concerned about movement, they’ll send [them to us]. If they’re more concerned about speech, they’ll send them to Brittany, and then this way, they could see all of us hopefully, and get exposure to what we have to offer,” Baxter said.

Daily tasks included fine motor, gross motor and speech. 

“I think the benefit is it gets us closer to everyday real life, like the functionality that’s true of what you experience at home and in the community versus in the therapy setting, that is just voice exercises, when in reality you’re walking and talking, or you’re cooking, chopping and talking,” Asay said.

Each day was broken into a different discipline. Monday focused on occupational therapy, Tuesday focused on physical therapy and Wednesday  focused on speech therapy.

“I think the purpose of the bootcamp, and what we hope that they would benefit from, is a unique opportunity for multidisciplinary exercises, so things like walking and talking or doing fine motor things and talking really functional things that we do every day, that we take for granted, you know, becoming more knowledgeable about all the different things that the therapist can provide,” Asay said.

PVHC dietician Tina Braet-Thomas also spoke with patients during the bootcamp.

The idea, Baxter said, is to have education from different areas, like what Braet-Thomas provided. In the coming years Baxter hopes to have even more people coming in to provide information during the bootcamp, “but it was cool because she was kind of like a guest speaker with even more knowledge about it,” she said. 

They already have ideas for next year, and both Baxter and Asay were impressed by what came out of this year’s bootcamp.

Those who have questions regarding treatment can ask their doctor to refer them to speech therapy or to physical and occupational therapy through North Platte PVHC/Physical and Occupational Therapy.