Today was supposed to mark a turning point. Every business has to reach and maintain the heart of its customers or risk breaking the relationship. After three years of patchwork care, including rotating aides, last-minute cancellations, and more “emergencies” than any system should reasonably absorb, we made the decision to move my dad from a piecemeal approach with two agencies into full 24-hour care with a single new agency. A new era. More structure. More reliability. Less

On Saturday April 18th, I had the honor of standing in a room filled with strength, honesty, humor, and something that feels like it’s getting harder to find in the world: real connection. To the Western Pennsylvania Parkinson Foundation, and to every person who showed up for the Living Well Conference : thank you. Christine Haythorn, CEO, Parkinson's Foundation of Western Pennsylvania and Robert Cochrane, PhD at the Living Well Conference in Pittsburgh, PA - Saturday, April

There’s a version of this story some people think you’re supposed  to tell. It’s the one where you find the silver lining. Where you talk about resilience. Where you say things like, “We’re managing.” I’ve told that version. I’ve lived inside it. But today I’m not interested in that story. Today I’m angry. And I have the right to be. Shout out to Michael J. Fox and Harrison Ford for lighting the fuse with permission to use two words as a rally cry: “Fuck Parkinson’s.” A few y

written by Dawn MacLaughlin, PhD of Rise Above Parkinson's