Vicki L. Williams-Patterson

Born Vicki Lynn Flood--daughter to Don and Charleen Flood and sister to John-- Vicki L. Williams-Patterson fills another important founding board member seat at the Flood Family Foundation. A professional watercolor artist in San Antonio, Texas, a Board-Certified Art Therapist, and a Licensed Professional Counselor with an MCAT (Master of Creative Art Therapy) and considerable experience in Jungian Sand Tray Process, Vicki brings another highly creative perspective to the philanthropic work of the FFF.

In her therapist work, Vicki specializes in Trauma Recovery, most recently with teens and adults, though she has worked with people whose ages range from three to sixty-three. In a recent bio clip for the Rx Art Reception Fundraiser--which was sponsored by San Antonio's Health and Healing Consortium--Vicki discussed her history with art and her parallel path as an Artist/Healer:

While I have been in practice as an art therapist since 1983, I have been an artist since early childhood. Making art has become such an integral part of me that I can't imagine going very long without "making stuff." In 1977 I received my BFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin. Then I moved to California where I was active at Clay Dimensions Studio and Many Hands Artists Co-op. My Art has served as a record of my life, an escape from despair, and as a powerful source of personal truth. The creative process is equally essential to my work with clients. While some of them enjoy using traditional media for self-expression, others express their inner images through the "sand-tray" process. For me, watercolor embodies the unpredictability and complexity of life. Whatever the medium, I find the visual creative process to be both compelling and delightful.

And, of course, Vicki has experienced first-hand the healing power of art and its ability to act as a therapeutic voice or expression for people burdened by a trauma: "art can subtly address

issues," she believes, "especially in the beginning when too many emotions confound language--and language is at first too linked to a trauma."

Given her experience and expertise, it is no surprise that Vicki gives her full support to FFF initiatives like the Freese Elementary Special Education Drum Project--which offers creative arts outlets--like painting, sculpture, puppetry, music and dance-- for young, needy students in the San Diego School system.

And as the daughter of Charleen, who instilled in her the "idea that [she] had the freedom to choose [her] own career path," Vicki works tirelessly--along with the rest of the Flood Family Foundation-- to honor her mother's memory and help free all of those suffering from the encumbering complications of Parkinson's. For more information on Vicki L. Williams-Patterson, click here.

John Flood

We are proud to feature the following short film by San Diego videographer Lisa Franek, who captures the musical philosophy and philanthropic work of John Flood, a founding FFF board member who has been working with the San Diego Unified School District to implement a comprehensive World Music program at a time when budget cuts are decimating K-12 music education. His efforts are truly inspiring:



John serves as the Artist in Residence for the Visual and Performing Arts in the San Diego Unified School District, and he has worked in conjunction with the International House of Blues Foundation in order to bring real drums (that is, hand-crafted instruments from local artisans in Cuba and Mali, rather than plastic drums) and world music education and performance programs to more San Diego kids. For these efforts, and for his work with schools in the Madison High School Cluster, he was recently awarded the prestigious Outstanding Multicultural Music Educator Award by the California Music Educators Association Southern Border Section (CMEA-SBS). As is evident in the video above, John truly believes multicultural education in our K-12 schools can help make the world a better place, and we are elated that more people are beginning to come around to this way of thinking.

The musical and educational philosophy of John Flood also extends into the territory of his full-time teaching position at San Diego State University, where he teaches African Drumming and Dance through the Contemporay Cultures Music Program. John's expertise in Ghanaian percussion, drum set, jazz vibraphone, and classical performance has allowed him to train a wide variety of working musicians in the San Diego area and beyond. His reputation at SDSU is, by no stretch of the imagination, that of a resident drum guru--a master whose skill is matched equally by his mentorship.

But education is not the only facet to John's musicianship. A large part of John's talent is also devoted to his love of performance, which he displays through his work with Ho-Asogli, an African drum and dance band that performs the traditional musics of Ghana. Since 1994, John has served as the group's Director, and his leadership has brought the band's multicultural sights and sounds into the hearts of Southern California.

John's work through the Flood Family Foundation echoes the support his mother Charleen gave to him as a boy, when he was first interested in drumming, and he credits his mother's influence in helping him make music a serious career. Charleen was, of course, a member of the Sky Larks (the female counterpart to the US Airforce Singing Sergeants) and a formidable piano player in her own right. Through the FFF, John hopes to honor the memory of his mother, carry on her musical legacy, and help find a cure for Parkinson's--the playfully-dubbed "Mr. P" against whom she fought so bravely.

Peggy Groves Schaefer and Scripps Neurologic Music Therapy

Over the years, the FFF has been privileged to meet and aid a host of special individuals whose passion, expertise, and spirit have improved the health and well-being of those with whom they have worked. And among these individuals perhaps none is more gifted and dedicated in the field of Parkinson's treatment than Peggy Groves Schaefer. This graduate of Colorado State University's Master of Music program trained with world-renowned music therapy researcher Dr. Michael Thaut. She is currently helping Parkinson's patients via the Scripps Encinitas Rehabilitation Program, which incorporates Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT), gait training, speech therapy and moral support to those battling the disease. Peggy is a board-certified Music Therapist and an NMT Fellow who has been working in Southern California since 2006, both at Scripps and through her own Metric Music Therapy network, and according to Don Flood, she "is the expert down here" in Southern California, a woman "so dedicated to helping Parkinson's people, she turns her herself inside out to make things happen."

A woman so passionate and driven certainly deserves the necessary support to accomplish her life's work of helping Parkinson's patients--and those suffering from autism, stroke, brain injury or cerebral palsy--and the Flood Family Foundation has done its part over the years to ensure she can bring her expertise and hope to more and more patients. In a recent interview, Peggy recounts the first meetings with Don and how that soon led to an innovative, FFF-funded NMT program at Scripps:

I met Don Flood, and subsequently the family, during my music therapy internship in San Diego, CA. It was during my internship that he made contact with my internship director, Barbara Reuer, to discuss Neurologic Music Therapy and how it could be used within the San Diego Parkinson's community. At that time, Barbara had two interns who had graduated from Colorado State University's masters in music therapy program and had experience in the research and application of Neurologic Music Therapy. Through meetings and events with the Parkinson's disease community, I struck up a working relationship with Don and we set out to expand NMT to Scripps through Don's connections with Dr. Lobatz and the Scripps Encinitas Rehabilitation Program. The Scripps project primarily came about through the unceasing efforts of Don. Dr. Lobatz was key in getting NMT approved by the hospital. Don and Dr. Lobatz (medical director of Scripps Encinitas Rehab) agreed to introduce NMT to the staff of the hospital by hosting a one day training given by Dr. Michael Thaut and his team. This training introduced the NMT theory and research to interested therapists and staff at the Rehab program. Once Dr. Lobatz educated the staff and administration, he felt it was a great fit for their program and a contract position was offered for me to join the inpatient treatment team. I started treatment at Scripps in August, 2006 and have continued there to date.

At the time, however, Scripps found itself without the financial resources to support the program, a fact that threatened to derail all of the progress made by Dr. Lobatz, Dr. Thaut, Peggy and Don. But the FFF stepped in at the crucial time to address the funding gap. According to Peggy:

The financial concerns were valid. The hospital would not and is not able to bill insurance for NMT services. We got around that issue by the generous spirit of the Flood Family. They agreed to pay for my service contract. Their generosity cemented NMT into the Rehabilitation Center and after the first year of my contract, Dr. Lobatz and Scripps decided it was a worth while cause and took over the payment of my services. But, it is not to be overstated that the Flood family was responsible for allowing NMT to flourish and give Dr. Lobatz supportive treatment data to prove the need for the hospital to honor the payment of NMT services.

Through the generosity and foresight of the FFF donors, Scripps administrators began to realize the efficacy of NMT in regards to Parkinson's Disease patients, and the institution has been supporting Peggy's efforts ever since.

The need for expanded outpatient care continues to rise, however, and a common frustration among Peggy and her fellow therapists is that they must stop their treatments once patients leave the hospital, primarily because most insurance companies--including Medicare--do not yet compensate for outpatient NMT. "This is the problem that remains," Don believes. "Peggy is upset that she treats patients, and then they have no where to go."

This situation can be helped by raising awareness of this challenge facing the Parkinson's community and by funding research initiatives whose ultimate goal is to put NMT therapies on the radar of Medicare administrators and show the statistical proof of what researchers and caregivers alike already know through experience: that outpatient Parkinson's care is affordable preventative medicine that will positively transform the longevity and quality of life of those suffering from the disease.

The Flood Family Foundation is eager to support this cutting-edge, clinically-proven advent in Parkinson's therapy, and we are also eager for your support. As the FFF is a volunteer-driven organization, all of our resources for philanthropic work come through a network of caring people willing to donate their time and/or financial resources to worthwhile projects such as the ones described above (and elsewhere on this blog). If you have such resources, or if you would like to hear about ways you can invest in the well-being of your community, we would love to hear from you. Together we can build a better, healthier world one program at a time.

The Freese Elementary Special Education Drum Project

The Flood Family Foundation prides itself on its contributions to community arts and education projects, and Freese Elementary's Special Education Drum Program represents one of our most worthwhile undertakings. This innovative project incorporates drumming, folklore, storytelling, and puppetry into weekly lessons for elementary school students at Freese, who expand their cultural understanding and musical abilities with the short-term goal of putting on a performance of their own! The long-term goal of the project is, of course, to ensure young children gain a broad understanding of how art and music from various cultures can enrich their lives--and those of their communities. The results are truly astounding, and since 2006, the FFF has donated $1000 each semester to maintain the project during California's ongoing budget crisis, which has all but eliminated arts and music programs for San Diego public school children--especially for those in elementary school.

According to John Flood, a professor of drumming and world music at San Diego State University, as well as Artist in Residence with the Visual and Performing Arts for the San Diego Unified School District (of which Freese is a part), music and art programs for children at the kindergarten through third grade levels are absolutely essential:

In my opinion, starting kids with rudimentary music skills in middle school is way too late. There are a number of reasons for this, like hormones, for one thing, which make the older kids a bit harder to work with, and the "coolness factor" that starts to creep into the age groups beyond the third grade. And in some cases it's hard to blame them. Having them learn the most basic stuff--concepts they could have grasped in kindergarten--might seem really childish to older kids. The best strategy all around is to inspire kids while the material is age-appropriate and when that natural spark of curiosity and enthusiasm makes drumming, dance, and cultural education a real joy. That way, they will have a special place in their hearts for music, and maybe a life-long passion. In Carribean and Eastern music programs, music, dance, and performance function less as specialized, individual skills and more as community activities. Music in those cultures brings people together and enriches communities and creates a common cultural language. That is what the Freese Special Education Drum Project was designed to do, too, and that is just what it is doing.

Surely, the success of any educational project results from a combination of proper funding and quality instruction, and thus the Freese project's success owes much to the main teacher and performer, Felix Diaz, whose skills encompass everything the project offers to its students: puppetry, folklore, storytelling, drumming, singing, dancing, mask-making and guitar playing. This talented multi-instrumentalist and multi-disciplinary artist serves as a Lead Teaching Artist with the San Diego Guild of Puppetry and has cemented his reputation while teaching and performing internationally with Drummers Without Borders, a forward-thinking, family-based art and education organization started in 2004 by Felix, Silvio, and Abril Diaz. After graduating from Mexico City's National University with a BA in Visual Art, Felix spent the following twenty years creating, producing, and directing over twenty different types of children's plays in Europe, Mexico, and the US. One of his specialties is staging giant puppet parades for kids that incorporate music, folklore, and drumming, and some of Felix's most recent productions at Freese have featured this fresh and eclectic artform. As you can see from the photos below, the results are spectacular:

Exciting and innovative programs like the Freese Special Education Drum Project are what the Flood Family Foundation values most, and if you also believe in the power of music and education programs--especially ones taught by world-class, master artists and musicians--then we urge you to match our contributions and help us build a more tolerant, skilled, and savvy world community from the ground up.

The Charleen B. Flood Memorial Research Fund

The Charleen B. Flood Memorial Research Fund for the advancement of Neurological Music Therapy was the Flood Family Foundation's inaugural effort to stamp out Parkinson's Disease. This generous donation of $50,000 had its origins in the heartbreaking loss of Charleen in 2004, after her 15-year battle with the illness she playfully called "Mr. P." After losing Charleen, her loving husband Don and her two children, John and Vicki, wished to honor her courage, spirit, and memory by continuing the fight she had begun 15 years earlier.

As Charleen shared twin passions for science and music (she worked for many years as a Medical Technologist and performed with choirs such as the Sky Larks and the La Jolla Symphony Chorus), the gift to Colorado State University's innovative Neurolgical Music Therapy program--which combines both science and music into practical therapies--was a natural choice. In addition, the college's prestigious faculty and innovative research in the arena of NMT is pushing the boundaries of the current understanding of Parkinson's Disease and training a fresh generation of therapists who are spreading these seeds of knowledge into communities around the country, where they are already expanding the popular notions of how to effectively manage the disease.

At the forefront of this revolution is Dr. Michael H. Thaut, a world-reknowned neuroscientist, former professional musician, Director for the Center for Biomedical Research in Music and Co-Executive Director of Colorado State's School of the Arts. Dr. Thaut’s internationally recognized research focuses on brain function in music, especially time information processing in the brain related to rhythmicity and biomedical applications of music to neurologic rehabilitation of cognitive and motor function. He received the National Research Award in 1993 and the National Service Award in 2001 from the American Music Therapy Association. He has over 120 scientific publications and has authored and coauthored 3 books. In his words, the Charleen B. Flood Memorial Research Fund is a wonderful gift that he hopes will inspire more people to support the landmark body of NMT research:

We are extremely grateful and honored to be the recipient of this fund which will allow us to broaden our research into neurologic music therapy and rehabilitation for patients with Parkinson’s disease. We never met Charleen while she was still alive, but we have met her husband and children who carry her legacy forward in beautiful and powerful ways. They are a truly remarkable family. We hope that more people will feel inspired by the Flood family’s gift and donate into the fund.

To help support Dr. Thaut and add to the Flood Fund, you can click this link, which will take you to Colorado State's donor page. With fully-supported research and teaching, we can make leaps and bounds toward the ultimate goal of eradicating Parkinson's altogether.

The Tremble Clefs

Since combined singing and exercise has been clinically proven to slow the progression of Parkinson's disease,* anyone battling "Mr. P" would benefit greatly from joining The Tremble Clefs. This wittily-named, nationwide collection of community singing troupes is comprised of members of the Parkinson's community with a love of music and a desire to integrate recreation into their therapeutic regimen. According to the Tremble Clefs website, "Participation in a Tremble Clefs singing program can help address voice and communications problems through breathing, stretching and posture activities, vocal exercise, rhythm and movement, and a strong social support system." And, of course, it is a great deal of fun. Charleen Flood benefitted greatly from her membership in the San Diego chapter of the Tremble Clefs, as the group enabled her to both express her lifelong passion for music and engage in upper-body exercises and song rhythms--all of which contributed greatly to her health and happiness. If you are a Parkinson's patient, or if you are a family member or caregiver to someone who is, we highly recommend this program for its medical effectiveness and its potential to keep the fires of the spirit burning high and bright.

http://www.trembleclefs.com/

*References:

Dr. Michael H. Thaut, Rhythm, Music, and the Brain (New York: Routledge, 2005), 79.