2025 Allied Professionals Forum

The Allied Health Professionals Forum (APF) took place December 1-2, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The ALS Hope Foundation has supported this program for over 20 years, starting with its second meeting which was held in Philadelphia in 2004.

We were pleased to have several members of the MDA/ALS Center of Hope and ALS Hope Foundation team attend this year's APF. Sara Feldman, Donna Harris, Jamey Piggott, Donna Sickles, Mary Holt-Paolone and Jennifer Doto attended along with ALS Warrior Wendy Hendrickson, an ALS Hope Foundation PALS Advisory Council (PAC) member and speaker at this year’s meeting. Stacy Lewin Farber, another PAC member, attended virtually.

Physical Therapist Sara Feldman (USA) co-chairs the event along with Rachael Marsden (UK), which brings together allied health professionals from around the globe. Sara is stepping down this year after 11 years of co-chairing the event. We know she will be missed!

the image, peaceful warrior, was done by sarah ezekiel, a person living with MND in the UK and eyegaze artist.

 Jennifer Doto and Sara Feldman presented on the Hope Bridges Assistive Technology Program supported by the ALS Hope Foundation.  Jennifer Doto and Sara Feldman presented on the "Hope Bridges Assistive Technology Program" supported by the ALS Hope Foundation. This program allows Jen to go out to an individuals home to provide assistance with assistive technology as a follow up to the clinic visit. Here Stacy Lewin Farber, a member of the PALS Advisory Council, demonstrates the use of assistive technology in her home.

ALS Warrior Wendy Hendrickson and Mary Holt-Paolone presented Wendy’s Wish 911 to the international audience. The mission of Wendy’s Wish 911 is to raise awareness and to educate and facilitate conversations with first responders and hospital emergency staff about the unique challenges faced by individuals living with ALS and other neurological conditions during emergencies.

“As a person living with ALS, attending the International Alliance was life changing for me. I was blessed to be able to present my Wendy's Wish 911 to the international community. It was very well received, and many organizations globally have reached out to collaborate. I am truly humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. It was amazing to be able to see first hand all the people from around the world who have dedicated their lives to the ALS cause. As a ALS Warrior you tend to only see your clinic team and then to see this huge collective of dedicated people, truly gave me HOPE!” ~Wendy Hendrickson

“I would say…how important it is for us to continually learn how other centers and HCPs operate and manage ALS to make sure we are providing the best care options possible within our institution, as well as continually asking ourselves, but more importantly our PALS/CALS for feedback/insights toward improvement.” Mary Holt-Paolone Wendy’s Wish 911 certainly is an important example of that!

The ALS Hope Foundation was honored to support the Day in the Life Experience at the Allied Professionals Forum. During the APF, the Alliance transformed one of the conference rooms into a space to demonstrate assistive technology available for people living with ALS/MND as well as have specialists available to answer questions. Jennifer Doto was one of these specialists! She worked with Nova McGiffert, an OT from Temple University, on the “Rest, Relaxation, and Intimacy” section.

You can view a virtual walk through with Jarnail Chudge, Innovation and Technology lead at the International Alliance.

Donna Harris, SLP, commented on her experience in the Day in the Life: “I voice banked my own voice with the help of Bridging Voices using Eleven Labs and it was so interesting.  The voice really sounds like me!”