Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences
Department of Physical Therapy
Improving Care for Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease
NSU Tampa Bay’s Physical Therapy program teamed up with a local non-profit Parkinsonlife Corporation (pdLIFE) and provided a FREE Continuing Education Course on the rehabilitative management of individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) on November 19 – 20, at the Tampa Bay campus. The continuing education course included both presentation and lab sessions where individuals with PD allowed rehabilitation treatments to be practiced and applied.
The goal of the continuing education course was to train local therapists in the best practices of care for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease and increase the number of therapists in the bay area who can effectively treat individuals with PD.
Ryan Duncan D.P.T., PT, a researcher and faculty member at Washington University, presented to 30 Bay Area therapists, including alumni from the Tampa Bay D.P.T. program. Parkinsonlife Corporation was founded and developed by Meredith Defranco, D.P.T., PT, during the pandemic and has continued to thrive. Providing this continuing education course was one step in pdLife’s goal of establishing interdisciplinary care teams for the management of individuals with PD in the Tampa Bay area.
For more information, please visit Parkinsonlife Corporation (pdLIFE) at https://parkinsonlife.org/.
pdLife table with logo
From left, Meredith Defranco, and Ryan Duncan, and Joann Gallichio, D.Sc., PT, associate professor, in the NSU Tampa Bay D.P.T. program.
The group of participants at course.
Individual with PD allowing concepts to be applied.
From left, Rafael Rodriguez, D.P.T. graduate, Joann Gallichio, and Christian Rodriquez-Rodriguez, D.P.T. graduate.