Aware in Care: Real Stories

Marty Gershe, 71, has been living with Parkinson's for four years. Learn how the National Parkinson Foundation's free Aware in Care kit helped him during an emergency trip to the hospital, and what you can do to get the kit, know the facts and be Aware in Care.

[@kellymallory710]

A PD patient in the hospital MUST have and advocate. I always take my husband's drugs and insist on giving them to him myself. It is sometimes a terrible battle with the institution and other times the nurses are happy to have me assume the responsibility. I never take no for an answer. PD patients have experienced mismanagement of concomitant medical problems because the PD drugs were not given timely and in some cases death has resulted.

[@integrativetherapeuticsolu7625]

One of my Parkinson's patients was hospitalized after a slip and fall on an icy driveway. He could not speak for himself and his wife was not present when he fell. The triage and admissions team did not want him to take his own meds and the hospital pharmacy put him on their version of his meds which were not the same. He had seizures and a stroke due to the lag in time followed by wrong meds. He ended up being hospitalized and transferred to in-patient long-term rehab at a skilled nursing facility. His wife was a strong advocate but found the hospital not allied to their neurology plan of care. This is a very important issue for people taking Parkinson's medication as well as psychotropic medications. I advise my therapy patients to get a signed document by their neurologist with instructions as the man in the video described and recommend they make it credit card size and laminated it so it can be in their wallet with their ID. Thank you, Marty Gershe for making this important PSA!