Owen Sound is the host community for a widely respected and attended conference on Parkinson’s Disease.
Tracey Jones, the Manager of Programs and Services with the Parkinson Society Southwestern Ontario, says this is the first time their spring conference will be held in Grey Bruce.
She says this is a great opportunity for local people to attend a conference of such calibre.
The event features four experts on Parkinson’s Disease.
Jones says perhaps the most interesting presentation will be by Dr. Ben Herz from the Medical College of Augusta Georgia.
He will focus on his research with the Nintendo Wii video game system and how it is proving to be very therapeutic for people with Parkinson’s.
Jones says because of the size of the venue, they can only host 150 attendees and the spots filled up quite quickly, with a growing wait list.
She says over half of the people registered are from the Grey Bruce region, while others will travel in from all over southwestern Ontario.
Jones says 100-thousand people have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in Canada, and it’s believed as the population ages that number will double by 2016.
She does not have figures specific to Grey Bruce, but says the southwestern Ontario region as a whole has 11-thousand cases, and expects with our older population the numbers would be high here.
The Spring Parkinson’s Regional Conference is being held at the Best Western Inn on the Bay on Saturday from 8:45 AM to 3:30 PM.