About

View the Parkinson’s & Poetry Workshop

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The 2nd Annual Parkinson’s & Poetry is inspired by and for the NW Parkinson’s community.

A few years ago, Bette Jane visited her dad’s speech class for Parkinson’s in Seattle. He and his classmates were reading poetry out loud together, including “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer (her dad’s favorite poem).

With every stanza and every rhyme, the voices grew louder, clearer, and stronger. Bette Jane noticed that poetry elevated the group’s mood, too! Readings turned into discussion about the poem, what each person noticed in their voice, and memories of poetry throughout their life.

That was April 2018, Parkinson’s and Poetry Awareness Month. Soon after, Bette Jane connected with Seattle poet Mary Edwards. Mary had engaged the NW Parkinson’s community with group poems, and Bette Jane learned from Mary a relaxed and fun way to make a poem. This lead to poetry workshops with the Puget Sound Parkinson’s community, and to the 1st Annual Parkinson’s & Poetry.

Since then, NW Parkinson’s invites art & poems across the region: from individual creations to spoken word, spontaneous group poems, readings, and endlessly more.

Poetry is just one way that we’re raising awareness of Parkinson’s this April. Visit our website for more about us, including: programs, blog posts, news, events & services around the Northwest!

Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation is the only independent organization for people impacted by Parkinson’s in the Northwest. In 1998, we worked hard to bring the first Movement Disorder Specialist and Parkinson’s care to the region. Over 20 years later, our staff & social services team is still doing their best work to connect individuals, carepartners, and their communities with the local resources they need.

NW Parkinson’s is here to create the lifeline of HOPE. We serve the whole family, community, and the whole individual, so no one walks the Parkinson’s journey alone.