The text message YMCA aerobics coordinator Annette Garrison received two years ago was an SOS.
Sylvia Hunt, a good friend from church, was asking to come by Garrison’s home for a talk.
When the Y staffer watched her friend struggle a little to walk up the front steps, she knew instantly there was something very serious going on.
Through tears that were shed during the conversation that followed, Garrison became one of the first people other than family to learn of her friend’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
And she was in a unique position to do something to help.
That’s what started Garrison down the path of bringing Rock Steady Boxing, a program specifically designed to assist those diagnosed with Parkinson’s, to the Henderson County Family YMCA.
Through a collaboration with the Partnership of Women and Rotary in the form of grant funding, the local YMCA has acquired the necessary training and equipment and will start offering Rock Steady Boxing on April 1.
With very little promotion and mostly word-of-mouth through the Parkinson’s support group network in Henderson and Evansville, the Y program already has approximately 12 applicants who have started doing baseline assessments with a physical therapist to record where they are at this point.
“They have been bringing the applications in so quickly,” Garrison said, noting that one applicant had been on a waiting list for more than a year to get into the Evansville YMCA’s Rock Steady program. “It is so exciting to get this started.”
Others in Henderson, including Hunt, have been attending Evansville’s Saturday Rock Steady program, but having another day-of-the-week option locally is very beneficial for accessibility, work schedules and maximum impact.
Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement, often leading to tremors as well as gait and balance issues. Nerve cell damage in the brain causes dopamine levels to drop, leading to symptoms. Treatment can help, but Parkinson’s can’t be cured. Regular participation in exercise programs such as Rock Steady Boxing can build up the dopamine that helps relieve symptoms.
For another form of exercise, two years ago Hunt recruited friends Steve and Wendy Casey to offer a dance class at First United Methodist Church (downtown Henderson on Green Street between Second and Third streets) along with a local Parkinson’s support group, which meets at 6 p.m. every fourth Tuesday of the month. (The Evansville support group meets at 6 p.m. every second Wednesday at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 5130 Lincoln Ave. Learn more at: PDEVVHub.org.)
Though often associated with maladies of the aging, Parkinson’s can impact any age group. Hunt was only 52 when diagnosed. And perhaps the most famous PD patient, actor Michael J. Fox, was only 29 years old.
Garrison and her co-teacher, physical therapist Tracy Martin, have already been “practice teaching” the boxing program alongside instructors at the Evansville Y.
The 90-minute group class is intense with sections for balance, weight training and core strength along with the heavy and speed boxing bags.
“They don’t know yet how hard they’re going to be working out,” Martin said. “But this high intensity really promotes dopamine production and uptake. It’s just so hard to get enough of it to go around.”
In addition to the two instructors, family members and friends will be present to help support the class members through the different components.
“It so great when you see smiles on their faces, especially after it becomes familiar to them,” Garrison said.
A side benefit of having this training is that it can spill over into other Y programs, such as an exercise class for older participants called Silver Sneakers.
Garrison said her Silver Sneakers classes are now incorporating elements of boxing, cognitive health and gait, and she’s been able to educate participants as to why those things are important.
“Through Rock Steady Boxing the quality of our other classes is improving,” she said. “We have new things in our toolbox to spread around.”
