At the WPC you can meet advocates from around the world.  Learn from them.  Be inspired by them.  Come away with life long friends.

Jean Burns

It is time to start thinking about going to the next World Parkinson Congress in June 2019.  As an official blogger for the WPC, I have been involved in meetings and planning for over a year now and have much to share with you.

First, if you have never attended the WPC, I can guarantee that you have never attended a meeting like this.  People with Parkinson’s (PwPs) can attend any session they are interested in,, from the most technical scientific presentations, to chair yoga, meditation, sessions on nutrition, sex and PD, the latest Marijuana research and more.  Everyone has an opportunity to contribute something to the WPC, there are song competitions, video competitions for pros and amateurs.  You can even submit an abstract or poster for consideration in the Poster Display as a PwP.

There are also opportunities to volunteer at the Congress.   You can spend a few hours volunteering on-site, or apply to become a Delegate Leader to work with the WPC to coordinate a group of people interested in attending the Congress from your area.  There are travel funds available for those who need them, to go to Japan.  Sales of Parkie the Raccoon and other items benefit the travel grant program.  For more information on the WPC 2019 click here

I like to call Soaring with Hope for PD our “Ice Bucket Challenge” for PD awareness

So what can you do now to get involved?  Participate in a world-wide effort to bring together People with Parkinson’s, their care partners, health care professionals, etc., to create an art installation for the WPC titled Soaring With Hope for PD.  Three friends of mine from Southern California, Naomi, Clara and Amy, have created an amazing project, which I like to call our “ice-bucket challenge” for Parkinson’s Awareness.

To spread the word about Parkinson’s Awareness, the official WPC Bloggers are in a challenge to collect your messages of hope for the WPC.  We want to collect a total 10,000 messages, each of which will be printed onto a hand-folded origami crane. The 10,000 cranes with messages will be displayed as a magnificent art installation at the June 2019 WPC in Kyoto, Japan. All you need to do is click this link and enter your country and message.  If you have multiple messages, you can click and enter each message separately.   And make sure to select me as your BLOGGER.  The deadline for the challenge is July 31, 2018.

 Thank you for your messages of HOPE, raising awareness for PD globally, and for helping me with this wonderful challenge.

I will be sending out more information about the World Parkinson Congress as it becomes available.  I hope to see you next year in Kyoto!  Arigato!