Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 04/02) - It's not known exactly how many post-polio syndrome (PPS) sufferers there are in the NWT.

A new registry being set up by the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities should help determine how many there are and provide PPS sufferers with a network of support.

"We need to get the message out to polio survivors in the North," says Kimberley Dowds, peer support services manager with the Ontario March of Dimes.

Dowds was in Yellowknife helping to plan a symposium next year on PPS and assist in setting up a peer support group for sufferers of the syndrome.

The problem is there currently isn't a knowledge base in the North to help identify PPS sufferers. The closest place with PPS assessment capabilities is in Edmonton.

The PPS survivors symposium is being planned for May or June. Sessions are geared towards helping sufferers cope. As well, the conference will look at what PPS is, and will include sessions for health-care professionals.

Living unaware

"We have nine people identified (in the NWT). But, we have a ways to go. There are probably a couple thousand out there," says Dowds.

It is also possible that many people with PPS don't know they have it. In fact, they may not even realize they ever came down with polio. Non-paralytic abortive polio was the most common strain of the disease, but it was hard to detect.

"The symptoms were weakness, fatigue, general flu-like symptoms. So most won't recognize themselves as polio survivors, but they will have the symptoms," says Dowds.

"There are probably a lot of people out there that feel they are getting older faster and they might feel it's all in their head."

Doreen Baptiste, a polio survivor who is involved with the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, has set up a support group in Yellowknife for PPS sufferers. The details concerning when meetings will be held are still being worked out as Baptiste waits for more names of polio survivors to come forward. To have your name placed on the registry for the symposium or the support group contact the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities or the Ontario March of Dimes.