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| What type of organization is MPDA? |
MPDA is the sole non-governmental and patient-based organization set up to represent all the Parkinson's patients in the country.
The Association was registered with The Registrar of Societies Malaysia as a non-profit welfare organization in 1994. The Secretariat of the Association is situated at Sri Petaling, Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur. There is no branch of MPDA elsewhere in the country.
Any person interested in furthering the objectives of the Association of at least 18 years of age, residing or working in Malaysia is eligible for ordinary membership on payment of an Annual Membership Fee. There are four different classes of membership:
- (a) PD patient;
- (b) Caregiver;
- (c) Supporter; and
- (d) Corporate.
On 15th July 2003 it has about 380 registered members, who are either patients or caregivers, with a small number of supporters/volunteers.
The main objectives of MPDA are:
- To provide educational and emotional support to Parkinson's patients and their families;
- To promote self-management of their Parkinson's condition by patients and their families, consistent with the best medical advice;
- To facilitate the provision of suitable professional help and advice to Parkinson's patients and their families;
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| How can the MPDA help you? |
Consistent with its objectives, MPDA provides the following educational and support services:
a) Health education for patients and caregivers
Generally, the Malaysian public knows very little about PD. Thus, patients are often anxious and scared when doctors tell them that they have PD. Some patients think that they will get paralyzed very soon.
We educate patients and caregivers about PD so that they can understand and cope with the various aspects of the illness. We also give up-to-date and reliable information on the various health services available in Malaysia for PD patients/caregivers, some examples are: physiotherapy, home visits, medications, and brain surgery.
b) Moral support for patients and caregivers.
PD results in significant mental distress to both patients and caregivers. The MPDA is a place where patients and caregivers share their experience and knowledge with each other. Patients help and give moral support to each other to cope with the illness. Most importantly, experienced patients/caregivers are the best councilors to newly diagnosed PD patients and their caregivers. By becoming members of MPDA, patients will know that they are not alone.
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| What are the activities of MPDA? |
The Association organizes the following activities:
Monthly Support Group Meetings which incorporate medical and healthcare talks / lectures at Pantai Medical Center, Jalan Pantai Baru, Kuala Lumpur. The speakers are neurologists (physicians who treats brain diseases), doctors and other professional medical staff. The Monthly Meetings are usually held on the third Saturday of each month between 3.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. Other activities include physical exercises such as Taiji Qigong, demonstration/practice in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, video sessions etc. This is also the time for patients/caregivers to interact with each other especially during teatime.
Newsletter (Berita Parkinson) is published once every two months. This newsletter is free and will be sent to all members by mail.
Annual Gathering of MPDA members from different parts of the country. For this year (2003) the Annual Gathering (Hi-Tea) was held at Crystal Crown Hotel, Petaling Jaya on 20th April 2003. This event was attended by about 200 patients/caregivers and invited guests (including the Association's patron, advisors, sponsors, doctors/medical staff who have given medical talks/lectures to our members.) The main objectives of the Annual Gathering are (1) to foster closer relationship among members from different parts of the country; and (2) to increase public awareness in Parkinson's disease.
Fund-raising campaign: MPDA participates in the Annual Charity Walk/Jog/Wheel-A-Thon jointly organized by over 30 charity organizations in the country;
"Help Parkinson's Patients" Charity Dinner in August 2003 - a joint project with the Lions Club of USJ Subang Jaya. This is a fund-raising campaign that aims to help MPDA to set up a Parkinson's Disease Day Care Center at Petaling Jaya by 2004.
Other activities:
- (The Association's phone line is open during office hours to answer queries from members and non-members; senior members will give telephone counseling (in Bahasa Malaysia/English/Mandarin) when requested;
- The Association's website () provides information about PD and MPDA, and it has linkages to other PD websites in the Internet;
The Association runs a "mobile library" which is "open" during each Monthly Meeting for members to borrow/return reference books/magazines/video cassette /VCD on various aspect of PD - Reference materials in Chinese are also available;
- The MPDA initiated and organized the First International Symposium of the Asian and Pacific Parkinson's Disease Association (APPDA), held in Kuala Lumpur on 4th - 5th March 1997. Subsequent International Symposia of the APPDA were held in Tokyo (1999), Hong Kong (2001), and this year (2003), it will be held in Korea, and in 2005, in India. MPDA is represented in APPDA's Organizing Committee. For each APPDA Symposium, other than official representatives from MPDA, many members also took the opportunity to make a tour to the host country before/after attending the symposium.
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