Salem Baptist Church in Jenkintown has joined an alliance that aims to ensure people of color with Parkinson’s disease have access to quality care, according to a staff report from the Penn Medicine Physician Blog.

The initiative is the brainchild of Dr. Andrew Siderowf, Professor of Neurology and Chief of the Movement Disorders Division at Penn Medicine.

He wanted to discover which factors are preventing people of color from seeking care for Parkinson’s Disease. “The founders of our center at Penn have always been committed to social justice,” he says.

To get an answer, he launched a city-wide collaboration with Wendy R. Lewis, CEO of The Parkinson Council, and Tsao-Wei Liang, Chief of the Movement Disorders Division and Co-Director of the Movement Disorders Program at Jefferson Health.

The approach they are using is based partly on education and partly on relationship building. They have also forged an alliance with several local organizations, including Salem Baptist Church, with the hope of making some in-roads with the community.

“We want to determine if there are barriers to care for people of color with Parkinson’s Disease so we can work to improve access,” said Andrew Siderowf.

Read more about the initiative around Dr. Andrew Siderowf and Parkinson’s Disease in the Penn Medicine Physician Blog.