This year marked the first year of a five year strategic plan that will take us to 2020. Our primary strategic directions are to inspire hope, extend our reach, strengthen our impact and work better to achieve optimal performance.
To extend our reach and strengthen our impact, we delivered several new programs and services, including Voice & Swallow seminars and an exercise pilot. Our Voice & Swallow seminars taught practical skills to those who currently experience these symptoms and offered valuable information to those wishing to be proactive in their treatment. Our exercise pilot participants showed improvements in physical capacity and quality of life.
To inspire hope, we launched The Parkinson’s Movement, a campaign to further draw attention to the benefits of exercise. Participants were encouraged to commit to an exercise goal for Parkinson’s Awareness Month in April. The positive responses and extraordinary stories that were shared helped to raise public awareness of Parkinson’s disease and the issues associated with it.
Further, together with our Parkinson Canada Partners, we were proud to fund 29 new grant, fellowship and student awards across Canada. Included in the awards were eight research projects in British Columbia. We are sincerely grateful to have the support of our members, donors and sponsors. It has allowed us to be a friend and a guide to individuals and families living with Parkinson’s disease.