Northwest Georgia Parkinson’s Disease Association in cooperation with the City of Rockmart has scheduled a town hall meeting.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Aug. 8 in the Nathan Dean Community Center.

Local and state elected officials and community leaders have been invited.

Representatives from the offices of U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson are expected to be present as well as area medical professionals.

Jennifer Hulsey, development director, Northwest Georgia Parkinson’s Disease Association, said her husband was diagnosed at age 42.

“It is not just a disease of older people,” she said.

Hulsey said the town hall meeting would offer a venue for people to come and talk about health care issues, including Parkinson’s Disease.

“We also want to become a more integral part of Rockmart,” she said.

Parkinson Disease is described as a chronic, degenerative, neurological disease in which the substantia nigra region of the brain looses its ability to produce the chemical messenger “dopamine”.

The Parkinson’s Disease Association lists the following facts to provide more information to the public.

. There is no known cure for Parkinson Disease.

. The side effects of current treatments for Parkinson Disease can be as disabling as the disease itself.

. Parkinson Disease (PD) is the most common and best understood neurological disease.

. PD is the least funded of all neurological disorders.

.There are more people diagnosed with PD than with Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS-Lou Gehrig’s Disease and the next 3 most common neurological disorders combined.

. Every nine minutes someone in the country is diagnosed with Parkinson Disease.

. PD can strike anyone, at any age and does not discriminate by sex, race, National origin.

. It is widely accepted that a cure for PD will lead to cures for many other neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s Disease.

. By the time a person is diagnosed with having PD, they have already lost approximately 80 percent of the dopamine producing ability of the brain. Dopamine is the chemical messenger responsible for sending movement signals from the brain to the rest of the body.

It is not known what triggers the loss of the dopamine producing ability. A combination of genetics and environment are suspected in most cases.