How often have you seen someone shuffle with small steps down a sidewalk or across a street, or perhaps just to a mailbox? It’s a good possibility that they are suffering from Parkinson’s Disease (PD).
Today, Occupational Therapist Melissa Wilkerson, LOTR, who has been associated with Minden Medical Center’s Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Services since 2020, is ready to help that shuffle become a more natural walk, and that challenging reach across the dining table become a hand grabbing the saltshaker.
At Minden Medical Center and its outpatient Rehab Clinic on Homer Road, Melissa specializes in disorders of the hands and upper extremities. She also “enjoys working with patients with neurological conditions – like stroke victims and those with Parkinsons.” At the end of 2020, she became certified in the “Lee Silverman Voice Treatment” Programs for Parkinson’s Disease (LSVT BIG®). The word, “big” refers to helping people with PD improve the size of movements they make. LSVT was first developed as a speech therapy program for PD, helping with voice modulation.
“I became interested in LSVT BIG® in school and was working in a skilled nursing home when I became certified. We noticed an uptick in rehab patients with Parkinsons in our facility,” Melissa recalled, pointing out that “no one is too old for LSVT BIG® and no one is too severe for the program.”
When OTs and PTs retrain PD patients, they use extensive ways to modify means of therapy. LSVT BIG® is all standardized. “What LSVT specializes in is an evidence-based treatment protocol that is very standardized – four times a week, an hour a session, for four weeks, with daily home exercises, which we provide. We provide these exercises as a part of the standard protocol.”
“Anybody with a PD diagnosis can benefit from it, regardless of their age…regardless of the severity of the disease process,” Melissa reminded again. “We can modify the ‘treatment’ for anyone at any severity or age using the LSVT BIG® ‘standardized’ protocol. That standardized protocol is well documented and well researched.”
As PD progresses, movements become smaller and softer. LSVT BIG® works (at getting improved movement),” Melissa said. “The goal of the protocol and for the patients is to learn what to do to maintain their therapy (at home).” When a PD patient is interviewed about the LSVT BIG® protocol, it is stressed that the home exercises are “a necessary part of treatment.”
LSVT BIG® even has a program for caregiver training – so literally anybody with Parkinsons can benefit from the protocol.
Even if a PD patient can’t make it to therapy four times a week “we never turn anybody away. If you are here, we will help you!” Melissa assured. It just will not be a part of the LSVT BIG® protocol.
Melissa is the owner of two Bachelor of Science degrees and a Master of Science degree, starting out at Northwestern State University, where she finished with her first BS in Chemistry in 2009. She earned her second BS at the LSU Health Sciences School of Allied Health Professions in Clinical Laboratory Science in 2013.
“I worked for one to two years (in the laboratory), but decided that wasn’t my calling,” Melissa said. “I wanted to work with people…not in a lab.” She talked to some Occupational Therapists, and they encouraged her to apply to the LSU Health Sciences School of Allied Health Professions for a degree in Occupational Therapy. She applied for the two-year Masters program in Occupational Therapy and graduated in 2018.
Her first job was in early 2019 in a Skilled Nursing Facility. “I liked working with that patient population,” Melissa said. “Their only goal was to get out of the facility and GO BACK HOME. I enjoyed it.” She also worked with some wonderful teams.
Melissa says that in her “personal” time, she is “very interested in holistic wellness and community wellness.” One of the ways she does that is through her social advocacy group, RIDE SHREVEPORT.
“We lead rides all over town. Our goals are to promote cycling safety in the community, to promote engagement in the community, cycling awareness, road laws, safety, bicycle maintenance, and, of course, community health.” All of this is done in an informal setting.
An avid outdoorsman, Melissa’s life goal is to visit all 63 of the U. S. National Parks. In the past four years she has toured 21. Despite the beauty she has seen, nothing quite compares to kayaking around Lake Bistineau and taking in the natural beauty of its cypress swamps.
An artist and a seamstress, she has a “working” costume shop and art studio in her home, which she shares with three canines and one “not so smart” cat.
If you have a diagnosis of Parkinson’s, ask your doctor about a referral to our clinic for an OT/LSVT BIG evaluation. Minden Medical Center Rehabilitation is located at 1120 Homer Rd, Minden, LA and our phone number is 318-382-7371.
