It’s a gray, rainy day outside the Westlake Porter Public Library. But, inside, the dark skies are replaced by the warm blues and greens painted across the walls of the library’s children’s section, where parents and children are learning together.

Jerri Thomas of North Olmsted and Lisa Lengen of Westlake both live with Parkinson’s and are here to participate in a nonprofit program called Hear Me Roar Storytime. The program gives Parkinson’s patients an opportunity to read to children to strengthen their vocal cords.

The two women have books in their hands with young children and their parents sitting around them in a semi-circle. The program begins with children roaring in response to a prompt by Hear Me Roar founder and speech language pathologist Esther Verbovszky.

“I want all you

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