Project Summary
As many as 1 million Americans live with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Because of the rural/frontier nature of Wyoming, there is evidence to suggest that the Parkinson’s community there may benefit from additional resources. The Tier I project aimed to establish formal relationships with individuals interested in PD and the Parkinson’s community in Wyoming; specifically, the activities focused on developing a robust network of patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and community members interested in improving conditions and services for the Parkinson’s community. Tier II activities are intended to build on the outcomes accomplished in Tier I. A key premise of Tier II is to identify the most important needs for the project population of interest, and this project plans to participate in three primary activities: increase engagement, develop comparative effectiveness research (CER) questions, and create and disseminate an outreach plan. We plan to increase engagement by using the outreach plan as a tool to raise awareness about this project and to provide opportunities where interested individuals can create meaningful change for the Parkinson’s community in Wyoming. Drawing on the experience and expertise of the extensive network of engaged individuals, we will develop the CER questions that get at the heart of this project:identifying the most important resources to support the Parkinson’s community. At the conclusion of Tier II, we will be well positionedto continue into a Tier III award that asks questions about the CER and begins to propose the larger research project.