Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 2013 HDSAhad a busy year developing educational programs for both our allied healthcare professionals and our HD families. For our healthcare professionals, HDSA launched a five part cooperative continuing education program with the American Physical Therapy Association/Neurology Division (APTA) in December 2015 to educate community based physical therapists. The idea behind the program was to increase access to physical therapy in local communities by providing licensed PTs with the knowledge they need to apply their skills to assessing and treating a person with HD. To date, 61 physical therapists who successfully completed one or more modules have agreed to be listed on the HDSA website as a resource. In January, HDSA launched a four part continuing education course for community based occupational therapists in partnership with the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) in order to educate community based occupational therapists on what they needed to know about HD in order to assess and treat persons with HD in their communities. A list of occupational therapists will be added to the HDSA website in early 2017. Once again, HDSA was able to provide funding to our chapters, affiliates, Centers of Excellence and support groups to support half or full day educational programs to our HD families across the United States. Thanks to a generous unrestricted educational grant from Teva, HDSA supported 35 educational events and guest speakers to 10 support groups. Nearly 4,000 HD family members attended an event and we are excited by the number of families this program reaches each year! The Annual HDSA Convention offered more than 40 workshops in 9 tracks to our HD families. New features for 2016 included an Ask the Expert table with rotating experts and topics each hour and the return of the HD Activity Center for Persons with HD. HDSA streamed 14 workshops and plenary sessions including the Opening Ceremony and keynote speaker on Friday and the Research Forum (parts 1 and 2) on Saturday. The streamed sessions are available for viewing on HDSA’s web site — HDSA.org/convention. Across the Nation, HDSA Continues to Educate More Communities About HD EDUCATION REPORT HDSA was also busy creating new publications for our families. In early 2016, HDSA published A Caregiver Guide for HD Families which addresses issues pertinent to family caregivers along the continuum of the disease. The new guide is meant to assist family caregivers and covers many of the topics included in the Caregiver Guide for Mid to Late Stage HD for Long Term Care and In-Home Care Agencies but from a family perspective. HDSA also updated the Family Guide to Huntington’s Disease and is in the process of re-printing both the Family Guide to Nutrition and HD and Caregiver’s Guide to Communicating with Healthcare Providers. Both pamphlets are ready to be distributed in 2017. These publications are available free of charge and can be downloaded by going to: hdsa.org/shop/ publications/. Debra Lovecky HDSA Director of Educational Programs