Cleveland Clinic is Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence

06 Nov 2024, 13:15 by Marisa Wexler, MS · Parkinson's News Today

The Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Neurological Restoration, which specializes in medical and surgical approaches for treating Parkinson’s disease and other neurological and movement disorders, has once again been recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Parkinson’s Foundation.

It was previously awarded the designation in 2018.

That designation recognizes the breadth of the center’s programs — featuring a multidisciplinary team of experts across a wide range of specialties — to provide care and support for people affected by Parkinson’s.

It also celebrates the center’s work to provide outreach and education about Parkinson’s, and its engagement in research to advance the development of new treatments for the neurodegenerative disease.

“We are elated to receive this designation, as it reaffirms our commitment to providing top-notch care and clinical support to our patients,” Benjamin Walter, MD, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Parkinson’s Disease Center of Excellence, said in a clinic press release.

54 centers now in Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence network

The Center of Excellence designation, or CoE status, was awarded to the clinic after a review by members of the Parkinson’s Foundation Global Care Network — an effort aiming to ensure people with Parkinson’s are able to access the best possible care. The designation extends Cleveland Clinic’s CoE designation for another five years.

The clinic’s first recognition as a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence came six years ago. It is one of the 40 institutions in the U.S. to be awarded CoE status by the foundation. Worldwide, 54 centers have been granted this prestigious designation.

Managing Parkinson’s disease can be challenging for patients and caregivers alike. … Our dedication as a center is to continually seek ways to enhance their quality of life.

Parkinson’s is a neurological disorder characterized by degeneration and death of nerve cells responsible for making dopamine, a signaling molecule that nerve cells in the brain use to communicate with each other and with the rest of the body.

Deficiency of dopamine signaling gives rise to symptoms that include abnormal movements like tremor and rigidity, as well as non-motor symptoms ranging from an impaired sense of smell to mental health disturbances.

The precise underlying causes of Parkinson’s are still incompletely understood, and although there are a variety of treatments that can help manage disease symptoms, no therapy has yet been proven to slow Parkinson’s progression.

Multidisciplinary care from teams of specialists thus can be crucial for helping patients navigate the challenges brought on by the disease.

“Managing Parkinson’s disease can be challenging for patients and caregivers alike,” Walter said. “However, our dedication as a center is to continually seek ways to enhance their quality of life.”