By: Charity Meier | Farmington Press | Published October 29, 2024
FARMINGTON HILLS — Kirk Gibson may have just knocked another one out of the park as he unveiled plans to open a wellness center in Farmington Hills for people living with Parkinson’s disease Oct. 1.
“I want people to know there is something you can do about it, having this disease and its symptoms, and we’re here in this community. We’re going to stay here, and I hope the community will support us in any way they can, because there are so many people in this country who need help. Let’s help each other, do some teamwork.” Gibson said.
“Movement really matters. Everything that happens in this organization is going to be focused on various types of movement. The program is going to be holistic and I think that’s going to be the key to our success and it’s going to be unique in the metro Detroit area,” said David Stickel, of the Kirk Gibson Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease.
Programs at the Kirk Gibson Center for Parkinson’s Wellness will be focused on physical and emotional well-being and the intersection of the two as well as cognition and speech. Parkinson’s patients will be working in meaningful group activities, Stickel said. He said they will have the opportunity and the support to work as a team.
“To be pushed by teammates and encouraged along the way, I can’t think of a more fitting way to honor Kirk’s lifetime experience working with teams, encouraging teams, making teams believe and helping teams win,” Stickel said.
The center will be a location for not only people with Parkinson’s disease to gather, but their family and friends as well. Stickel said it will be like a “neighborhood or a clubhouse.” He said those affected by the disease will be able to focus on rest and relaxation.
“It’s going to be their place,” said Stickel.
The location at 31440 Northwestern Highway is centrally located. He said the center will be able to reach 2.7 of the four million people that live in the tri-county area within a 30-minute drive. According to Stickel, they should be able to access 8,000 people with a Parkinson’s diagnosis in the area and he believes that will go up.
The disease normally hits people in their mid-to-late 50s. The disease affects the central nervous system and causes issues with balance, movement, speech, and breathing and cognitive impairments.
“They are quite often embarrassed by their symptoms,” said Steve Annear, CEO of the foundation. “So, this center is about getting them out of that and being socially stimulated and meeting other people who are going through the same thing.
The center will incorporate some ideas used by In Motion, a center for Parkinson’s patients in Cleveland that the foundation partnered with. The center will feature a walking track and offer boxing, yoga, food, music and workout rooms. The foundation hopes to open the center in mid-2025. There will be no cost for the services.
“We hope what comes of this is that people will have a better life,” said Annear. “That’s what we want.”
“This will be great for people, especially because there is such a range of people who are suffering with Parkinson’s, depending on which stage they’re at. So, I’m assuming a center like this will be able to help meet their needs, and people have so many questions, and while Google is helpful, I think people talking to each other, who are there with the people suffering from Parkinson’s that are going through the process, will be helpful,” said Kenny Fenchel, of Novi, whose father, Michael, died from the disease in August.
He said his father used to take a boxing class in Novi for people with the disease and really enjoyed it. He recalled that walking became a struggle for him, and that although Parkinson’s patients need to keep exercising, there was always a concern that if he were to get too tired walking, it would be challenging to get him back home. Fenchel said a center like this would have offered a solution to this predicament, as he would be at a facility where there are people there to help.
“I’m thinking you’d feel a lot more supported in a place like this,” Fenchel said.
Fenchel said he feels that a place like this would have truly benefited not only his father, but his mother who cared for him as well. He said his mom would have been much more into a center such as this than she was the support groups that were available to her at the time, because it would allow them to get more done.
“Because you realize that you’re not alone in terms of helping someone, because I think it can be exhausting as people’s conditions start to drop. I think knowing that you’re not the only person dealing with this is really helpful,” said Fenchel.
He said that when his dad died, they requested memorial tributes be donated to the Kirk Gibson Foundation.
“It’s cool to see the money in action,” said Fenchel of his donations to the cause. “Sometimes you donate to something and you know it goes there, but you don’t know what it is actually being used for, whereas with this, there’s a building and it’s going to help people, and I think that’s great.”