Team provides hope by assisting with speech and swallowing abilities

NewsCommunity

13 Apr

**Bear-maker of 19 years Lorraine Dippelsmann has made five bears for the ‘Benevolent Bear Auction’.**

Nambour’s Restoring Hope Parkinson’s Therapy (RHPT) mission is to restore and maintain the speech and swallowing abilities of people living with this complex neurodegenerative disease.

RHPT are hosting an online Q&A session on Wednesday 21 April at 10am to provide information about Parkinson’s Disease. The RHPT Speech Pathology team and Sunshine Coast Health Services Nurse Navigators will be available to respond to questions.

RHPT will also be launching their 2021 ‘Benevolent Bear Auction’ at this time.

Bear-maker of 19 years Lorraine Dippelsmann, who made five bears for the ‘Benevolent Bear Auction’, said she wanted to use her ability for good. “I just thought it was a good opportunity to support this new charity and to help the people who suffer with Parkinson’s, because we never know what is around the corner for any one of us,” she said.

RHPT offers the Parkinson’s Voice Project evidence-based SPEAK OUT and weekly LOUD Crowd group sessions established by Samantha Elandary and her team from Dallas USA.

The RACQ Foundation recently provided funds to purchase nine iPads and storage cases to enable RHPT to improve and expand their services to people living with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) across the Sunshine Coast and Queensland. The difficulty in providing a face to face assessment and therapy program, weekly LOUD Crowd group sessions and choir activity was made very real with the Covid-19 pandemic. Telehealth was a viable option to provide this service but many participants were unable to access the required technology. These devices have been purchased and are currently being set-up and will enable people to access therapy via tele health.

Parkinson’s Voice Project (PVP) also run an international grants program and RHPT recently received a grant for the third year in a row. This grant supports the provision of SPEAK OUT and LOUD Crowd therapy through training opportunities for Speech Pathologists and Speech Pathology students, as well as speech therapy supplies.

Restoring Hope Parkinson’s Therapy have also received support from local Members of Parliament. Rob Skelton MP paid the invoice for street signage at the clinic and Andrew Powell MP awarded RHPT a Local Heroes Grant to be used to improve indoor signage.

From the 1st August 2020 Restoring Hope Parkinson’s Therapy has provided group speech therapy services without charge. Fundraising, regular and “Pay It Forward” donations are necessary to raise funds to support this vital service.

• Register for the Q&A and “Benevolent Bear Auction” online at https://rhptherapy.org.au