The PD Buddy Program, now in its third year, is a collaboration between the UofL School of Medicine, UofL Physicians – Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, UofL College of ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥ and Human Development and the Parkinson’s Support Center of Kentuckiana.

The program matches first-year medical students with patients affected by Parkinson’s disease. The “buddy” pairs meet monthly to share challenges and accomplishments of living with the disease.

The program offers students an opportunity to learn about PD outside a classroom setting, and patients can share their stories and benefit from social interactions. Students also receive education about PD and several group activities, such as a holiday party or a bowling afternoon, are scheduled throughout the year.
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The program runs from September 2017 through April 2018 and the average time commitment is 3 to 4 hours per month. For more information about the PD Buddy Program, .

To sign up, contact the UofL Physicians clinic at 502-582-7654. The deadline for registration is Aug. 31.

The PD Buddy program, the only one of its kind for Parkinson’s patients, was launched last summer as a partnership between UofL and the . Twenty-five buddy pairs participated in the year-long program designed to give the patients social interaction and allow them to share their stories with the students, who in turn gained first-hand knowledge about living with a nervous system disorder. The program also serves to better educate students about Parkinson’s, introduce students to research and career opportunities in neurology and movement disorders, and provide people with Parkinson’s Disease the opportunity to interact more closely with the medical community.

Kathrin LaFaver, MD, the Raymond Lee Lebby Chair for Parkinson’s Disease Research in the Department of Neurology at UofL and director of the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Clinic at UofL Physicians, said the exchanges give the students a deeper understanding of how patients cope with the disease. LaFaver also meets monthly with the students to provide additional medical information and inform the students about research and career opportunities in neurology and movement disorders.

Since this program is unique for Parkinson’s patients, LaFaver, along with Erika Branch, executive director of the Parkinson Support Center, and Denise Cumberland, PhD, assistant professor in the UofL College of ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥ and Human Development, will present findings from the first year of the PD Buddy Program at the in Portland, Oregon, in September.

The PD Buddy Program, also sponsored by KentuckyOne Health, is open to anyone diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease who has the time and interest to participate. In addition to one-on-one meetings with the students, several group activities will be planned over the course of the year. Patients must understand that this is an education program and that the medical students will not be able to give medical advice.

Interested individuals may call the UofL Physicians Movement Disorders Clinic at 502-582-7654, the Parkinson Support Center of Kentucky at 502-254-3388, or email a completed application form to outreach@parkinsoncenter.org prior to August 15. Application forms may be .Ìý