Published on: 11 April 2022
A team who helps people with Parkinson’s Disease has won praise for expressing their support for patients through poetry.
Members of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust’s Parkinson’s Team have been given recognition for being the first team of professionals in the country to submit a five-line poem or limerick to mark World Parkinson’s Day.
They sent six entries to the charity for publication, including on digital advertising boards across the country, with their words shared among 200 poems submitted nationally as part of the Poem’s for Parkinson’s campaign.
The campaign is to mark World Parkinson’s Day, which is today, Monday, April 11.
Light Up Blue for Parkinson’s will also be held this evening, with the Trust backing the effort by turning its buildings blue tonight, alongside other UK landmarks.
The nurses also set up a stall in the main entrance to Sunderland Royal Hospital filled with information about the support available to patients with the neurological condition.
Parkinson’s UK say around 145,000 Brits are living with Parkinson’s, which is the fastest growing condition of its kind in the world.
Symptoms can include tremors, stiffness, slowness in moving, memory, thinking and sleeping problems, pain and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
There are lots of different treatments, therapies and support available to manage it and research is under way to develop new and better treatments, with the aim of one day finding a cure.
Victoria Rumis is one of the Parkinson’s Specialist Nurses and is part of a team which works across the Trust.
She said: “World Parkinson’s Day helps raise awareness of Parkinson’s and we enjoyed getting creative by submitting our poems.”
Among the poems was one penned by Dr Uma Nath, a Consultant Neurologist.
It reads:
The medals on your chest catch the bright clinic lights
The soldier you were, is still here
When age and illness come to me
And I sit where you are now, I will not forget
A man is more than the sum of his tremor and his falls.
Information about the Trust’s service to support patients with Parkinson’s Disease can be found via https://www.stsft.nhs.uk/services/parkinsons-disease-service
