Patients of the center have Parkinson’s disease or a movement disorder and are treated by a team - physicians, multiple therapists and social workers.

“We hold their hand throughout the process, from diagnosis through the disease process,” said Dr. Elmyra Encarnacion, director of the Plummer Movement Disorders Center at Scott & White Memorial Hospital.

There are three components to Plummer Movement Disorders Center - outreach, comprehensive care and research.

Research on diseases is ongoing, some for cures and others to help alleviate some of the complications, Encarnacion said. Surgically, deep brain stimulation is a possibility for some patients.

Deep brain stimulation uses a surgically implanted, battery-operated medical device -similar to a heart pacemaker - to deliver electrical stimulation to targeted areas in the brain that control movement, blocking the abnormal nerve signals that cause tremor and Parkinson’s disease symptoms.

Parkinson’s is caused by the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells and is associated with certain symptoms, including tremors, rigidity, slowness of movement and impaired balance and coordination. It is diagnosed through clinical examination.

If a patient has two of the four symptoms and responds to Parkinson’s medications it sort of confirms the diagnosis, Encarnacion said. There’s no genetic or blood tests or specialized imaging that will verify the diagnosis.

If a patient is proactive about their disease early on - learning how to take care of themselves in terms of balance and safety issues - the better they’ll be able to deal with the disease later, she said.

“That’s what we advocate in comprehensive care,” Encarnacion said. “The moment I see the patient, we talk about the disease process and then I refer them to our group of specialists to coordinate further care.”

The center treats a number of movement disorders, including restless leg syndrome, spasms, tic disorders, tremors, Chorea and Huntington’s diseases. There is a lot of overlap in treatment and research in degenerative diseases.

Parkinsonian disorders is an umbrella term that includes Parkinson’s and disorders that mimic Parkinson’s symptoms - slowness, stiffness, tremors and balance problems.

Of those two groups, those with true Parkinson’s respond better to standard medications, Encarnacion said.

Men have a slightly higher risk of getting Parkinson’s. About 1.5 million people in the United States have Parkinson’s and there are about 60,000 new diagnoses each year.

The Plummer center offers a number of symposiums on Parkinson’s Disease for both the health care provider and the community. There are classes for newly diagnosed patients and their family and education opportunities for allied health care providers, social workers, nurses and physicians.

There’s a Parkinson’s Disease 101 class for the recently diagnosed and one of the most common questions in the class is what does the future hold.

It’s different for everyone, said Patricia Simpson, manager of the Plummer Movement Disorders Center. Not only are there the main symptoms, but there’s a variety of secondary symptoms and different individuals may have different combinations of those symptoms.

“You can’t look at someone who’s sitting in a wheelchair and think that’s going to be you in five years, because we have many who have had Parkinson’s for 15 or 20 years and they are doing well on medications,” she said.

The Plummer Movement Disorders Center is one of two National Parkinson Foundation Care Centers in Texas with the foundation providing seed money to establish the center in 1999. The other center is in Houston.

The foundation now expects the Temple center to find a way to financially support itself, Simpson said.

In the last few years, Parkinson support groups in the area have grown from one to about 14.

“We try to establish new ones as we find pockets in areas where a support group is needed,” she said.

Simpson, who has been with center since its beginning, has made providing a solid footing for the Plummer Movement Disorders Center her mission.

When she retires, Simpson said she wants to be able to leave knowing the center is strong and financially sound.

As the Plummer Center’s patient base becomes established in the Austin area, the center plans on focusing on areas to the north of Temple.