Iowa Chapter

This web site is supported by the Iowa Chapter of APDA and offers you links when searching for answers to questions, or explanations to symptoms. And it will give you support in the direction of support groups and events scheduled throughout the state, and updated information connected to PD. Also if you need to speak to someone one-to-one, we have a list of folks willing to do just that. We hope this web site will also give you a face of PD, their pictures and words. Learn more about how to become a member of the Iowa Chapter APDA.

APDA uses many works and volunteers for many parts in the Iowa chapter and relies on donations to continue our work. Look here to see some of them and how they help us.

APDA Chapters have two functions: fundraising and awareness. They operate as an integral part of our national organization and their financial statements are combined with ours at the end of the year for reporting to the IRS. The benefits of the Chapters' operation assist our national programs of research and education, but are most important in their local outreach, programs and education.

Here is a list of some of the things our local chapters have done to "Ease the Burden and to Find the Cure" For Parkinson's disease:

  • Raise funds for research. Our research program has been involved in every major breakthrough in clinical and applied research for over 35 years.
  • Hold or assist in holding educational symposia which draw thousands of people together each year and feature the finest speakers on Parkinson's disease in the world.
  • Secure media attention. This puts people who don't know what resources are available to them in touch without network, and raises public awareness and understanding of Parkinson's disease.
  • Publish newsletters to keep even more people informed of local and national events affecting the Parkinson's community, on their own or in cooperation with the local I&R Center.
  • Fund or assist in funding local programs of support, therapy, research, or I & R Centers.
  • Act as the local representative of APDA to reach out and assist our programs and growth.
  • Assist support Groups through referrals, funding, organization, and materials in cooperation with the local I&R Center.
  • Obtain the involvement of volunteers who otherwise would have not true involvement in the organizations serving people with Parkinson's disease.
  • To directly represent and advocate the interests of those afflicted with Parkinson's disease through local organization.

In 1961, the American Parkinson Disease Association, Inc. was started in New York City to form a local Support Group, at a time when none was available. Since then, the APDA has placed a vast amount of its emphasis into grassroots organizing of support Groups, Chapters, and Information and Referral Centers. Since the initiation of Operations Outreach in 1983, the number of Chapters, their efficiency, and the funds they have raised has grown dramatically. It is this grassroots structure that separates APDA from other organizations serving people with Parkinson's disease.