New app in development to help those living with Parkinson's

Surrey, B.C. -

Surrey resident Bob de Wit was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease nine years ago.

It’s an incurable brain disease that impacts mobility and coordination.

“One of the things about Parkinson's which is really difficult is your symptoms change hour to hour, day to day and they're also different between different individuals,” de Wit told CTV News.

He takes things in stride and tries his best to manage his symptoms on his own.

“I see my neurologist only for less than an hour a year. So there's a lot of time in between,” he explained.

Parkinson Canada is funding the development of an app to help patients like de Wit manage their illness for those times in between appointments.

“There's many thousands of hours where they're engaging in their own self-care day to day at home," explained Angelica Asis, vice-president of research for Parkinson Canada.

"So having a digital solution for self-management for a condition like Parkinson's is really important for autonomy, for one's ability to engage in their own self-care and tracking their own day to day.”

Asis said Parkinson Canada hopes the app will serve as a one-stop shop for patients to monitor symptoms, set goals and connect to community supports.

The organization also hopes the app will help improve access to care by removing barriers.

“We have a provincial-based health-care system where wait times to see a movement disorder specialist – as well as other health professionals to support Parkinson's care – can be quite lengthy,” she said. “If you're living in a rural community or you might not have the transportation or the means to get to a movement disorder center, those are additional barriers that could really make access to care challenging for people with Parkinson's.”

Without an app, de Wit has taken matters in his own hands, tracking his health with his smart watch and taking notes. He said he sees the benefit of monitoring the illness.

“I noticed a correlation between medication working or not working when I ate protein. So now I tend to eat less protein and later in the day because of tracking,” he explained.

The advocacy group put a call out for proposals and awarded the $300,000 grant to The Ottawa Hospital.

The team has three years to launch the app.

Parkinson Canada estimates more than 100,000 Canadians are living with the disease.

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month.