The National Parkinson Foundation Awards Five Grants for the Falls Prevention ...( MIAMI Jan. 2 -- The National Parki...),Health

MIAMI, Jan. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Parkinson Foundation (NPF) awarded five grants for the Falls Prevention Initiative, studying new evidence-based interventions aimed at preventing falls in people with Parkinson's disease.

The Falls Prevention Initiative awarded grants to five different research projects at NPF Centers of Excellence in the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, and the United States. NPF supports a strong network of Centers of Excellence dedicated to providing comprehensive, interdisciplinary care to more than 50,000 Parkinson's patients and their families.

Falls are a common and devastating consequence of Parkinson's disease and have an enormous impact on the physical and mental well-being of affected patients. Preliminary results of all five studies will be presented in December of 2009 at the annual National Parkinson Foundation Centers Leadership Conference.

"The Falls Prevention Initiative is part of the National Parkinson Foundation's ongoing efforts to ensure that people with Parkinson's disease have access to the most comprehensive and highest quality care possible," said Joyce Oberdorf, President and CEO of the National Parkinson Foundation in Miami. "We look forward to working with the grant recipients in supporting research that will have an immediate impact on the lives of Parkinson's disease patients worldwide."

The following NPF Falls Prevention Initiative studies have been funded:

1) Nijmegen Parkinson Center: This study will investigate the efficacy of a multifactorial falls prevention program using tailored treatment strategies. Bastiann Bloem, MD, PhD, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

2) Nijmegen Parkinson Center and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center:
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