Guthrie Rehab Teams Stand Up for Parkinson's Awareness

It starts with a simple movement: Sit down, stand up. Repeat. For most people, it barely registers as exercise. 

 

But for the more than 10 million people worldwide living with Parkinson's disease, that same movement — the sit-to-stand — can represent hard-fought strength, hard-won independence and the daily work of managing a progressive neurological condition.

 

That's the idea behind World Parkinson's Day, observed each year on April 11, and the inspiration behind the Sit-to-Stand Challenge — a global awareness event that invites individuals and organizations to complete as many sit-to-stands as possible in a single day and log their totals toward a worldwide goal of 2 million.

 

On Friday, April 10, rehabilitation teams across the Guthrie system joined that global effort, participating in the second annual Sit-to-Stand Challenge in recognition of World Parkinson's Day. Because the observance fell on Saturday, April 11, this year, the challenge was held the day before to allow maximum participation. 

 

A lobby event at Guthrie Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, N.Y. welcomed staff, patients, family members and visitors to stop, participate and have their totals recorded by volunteers. Those unable to attend in person could also participate remotely, logging their totals at standuptoparkinsons.com.

 

The effort spanned multiple Guthrie sites — including Guthrie Lourdes Hospital, Guthrie Cortland Medical Center, Robert Packer Hospital, Corning Hospital/Healthworks and Troy Cardiac Rehab — with a combined goal of 40,000 sit-to-stands. 

 

That target reflected a significant step up from last year, when Guthrie teams completed a combined 36,350, more than doubling a goal of 15,000.

 

When the final tallies came in, Guthrie's rehabilitation teams had completed a combined 39,612 sit-to-stands, falling just shy of the 40,000 goal but representing an increase of nearly 3,000 over last year's total. 

 

Results by site:

 

Participants were encouraged to share their involvement on social media using the hashtag #standup2pd.