Swiss president signs Global declaration - An Initiative of Parkinson Switzerland
By Johannes Kornacher, communications
Swiss federal president Samuel Schmid has signed the Global
declaration on Parkinson’s disease on world Parkinson’s
day, April 11 in Bern. The national Parkinson’s
association Parkinson Schweiz had invited Schmid
amongst roughly 100 guests to sign the declaration. Pieter
Hoogendoorn, vice-president of EPDA, personally brought
the global declaration from The Hague to Bern to hand
it over to the Swiss president. Before in 2003 the declaration
had been supported by Prime Minister Tony Blair and signed
by Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Claude Juncker amongst
other politicians and representatives of health programmes
in other countries.
The ceremony was broadcast by Swiss television and radio.
Almost every Swiss newspaper mentioned the signature the
next day, some of them even printed larger articles and
interviews on Parkinson. “We are sure the president’s
commitment will have a substantial effect on the public
awareness of Parkinson’s disease”, Kurt Meier
said, president of Parkinson Schweiz.
Schmid, who had announced a “closer to the people”-campaign
for his presidency this year, said he had come to sign
the declaration even without this motto. “We owe
handicapped and ill people not just our sympathy, but
help”, he said. The Swiss society should not individualize
too far, he continued. “We must not be interested
in our own lives, only.” His signature on the declaration
should encourage people with Parkinson to keep on going,
Schmid ended.
The Declaration will be signed by the members of Parkinson
Schweiz during its annual meeting on June 18th. The association,
celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has started
a number of projects to enhance the quality of life for
people concerned with the disease. Examples: the national
convention on Parkinson’s for medical doctors, training
courses for carers, a new corporate design with new brochures
and more information programmes for patients. The successful
helpline Parkinfon will be extended later this year. In
cooperation with a national supermarket, more than 150
000 bunches of tulips were sold around eastern this year.
The self-help groups sold more than 4000 wooden tulips.
Parkinson Schweiz has roughly 4500 members and supports
61 self-help groups.
