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Sunday Reads: Thanksgiving Gatherings With Alzheimer’s

Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

We’re sending this “Sunday” Reads early, because we’ll be out of the office until Monday, November 26. But before we head out, we want to share two newsworthy items.

First, we’d like to highlight PMC Executive Director Felicia Greenfield, MSW, LCSW, who was featured in an Inquirer article which discusses creating holiday celebrations so individuals with dementia and their caregivers can also have a fun time. Greenfield offered a number of tips on how to do so:

  • Talk to individuals with dementia in small groups.
  • Avoid giving loved ones alcohol beverages. Instead, practice the “loving deception” and opt for non-alcoholic wine or beer, if the person likes to drink.
  • Practice gratitude. “We try not to focus on the losses,” she told The Inquirer.
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PMC study: Caregiving knowledge can help reduce stigma of Alzheimer’s disease dementia

Dr. Shana Stites, far right, at the “Stigma in Dementia: It’s Time to Talk About It” Symposium at the national Gerontological Society of America (GSA) meeting last week.

By Joyce Lee

The more people know about how to care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia, the less likely they are to expect others to react negatively to that person.

That is one finding from the latest study by Penn Memory Center (PMC) Scholar Shana Stites, PsyD, MA, MS, who suggests that teaching caregiving skills could reduce public stigma of AD dementia and help caregivers.

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Sunday Reads: Alzheimer’s Disease And Coffee

While following the news last week, you may have noticed a number of Alzheimer’s disease-related headlines that seemed too good to be true.

And in fact, they are too good to be true, though they are based on a real study published in mid-October in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience (the study didn’t gain media attention until a Nov. 5 press release). Before we dive into the study, let’s clear up one thing: drinking coffee is not a proven way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

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Karlawish featured at American Public Health Association conference

by Janissa Delzo

PMC Co-Director Jason Karlawish, MD was one of many public health professionals and researchers who attended the 2018 American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Annual Meeting and Expo.

Jason Karlawish, MD

On November 13, Dr. Karlawish and six others led a roundtable called “Healthy Brain Research Network: Leveraging Expertise for Public Health Wins.” The following evening he spoke at a symposium, presenting “The CDC Healthy Brain Research Network: Collective Impact in Action.”

His presentations were centered around his involvement as the Principal Investigator for the Healthy Brain Research Network (HBRN) Collaborating Center. In addition to the University of Pennsylvania, there are seven other universities across the U.S. that participate in the HBRN.

The APHA’s Annual Meeting and Expo attracts attendees from around the globe. This year’s theme was “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Health Equity Now.” It was held November 10 to 14 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.

Sunday Reads: Voting Ethics Among People With Dementia

Editor’s Note: Last Sunday, we wrote about our disapproval of President Donald Trump’s use of “demented,” a word he’s used on multiple occasions to describe terrorists and mass murderers. One reader challenged us and asked: If President Barack Obama said it, would the reaction have been the same? We looked into it and find out that he has indeed done the same before.

“Right or left, Democrat or Republican, dementia describes persons with an illness, not mass murderers or terrorists,” said PMC Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish.

In October, the Sunday Reads team reflected on how public figures choose to disclose their diagnoses in a variety of ways. That newsletter was read by New York Times writer Paula Span, who in turn used the topic for this week’s The New Old Age column, “Dementia is getting some very public faces.”

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Join PMC for upcoming Memory Café in November, December

November Memory Café
Featuring: Dance Class led by R. Colby Damon
Friday, November 30
10:30 a.m. to Noon
Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 N. American Street, Philadelphia

December Memory Café
Featuring: Curtis Institute of Music
Friday, December 7
10:30 a.m. to Noon
Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 N. American Street, Philadelphia

RSVP: alison.lynn@uphs.upenn.edu

Join us for our free monthly Memory Cafés this November and December.

November Memory Café will feature Robert Colby Damon, a professional dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher who has worked with such companies as BalletX, The Metropolitan Opera, and Pennsylvania Ballet. He will be synthesizing his broad experiences as a dancer and dance teacher working with various populations to lead a short dance class tailored specifically to the unique challenges of those living with Alzheimer’s disease. The class will be centered on easy, adaptive, and fun movements for patients and caregivers alike. All ages and skill levels are welcome, no former dance experience is necessary.

At December Memory Café, Curtis Institute of Music students will perform classical music and create a relaxing environment for attendees. The Curtis Institute is a conservatory in Center City, Philadelphia, where talented students from all around the world gather to study and become leaders in the field of music. PMC and Curtis have partnered in the past to bring to our patients and research participants classical music in their homes and at Memory Cafés.

Events will be held at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia, PA.To RSVP, contact Alison Lynn at 215-360-0257 or alison.lynn@uphs.upenn.edu.

Strategies for preserving cognition through aging

By Joyce Lee

On average, some amount of decline in memory and thinking skills is expected with age. But every older adult experiences cognitive aging and decline differently. Some develop neurodegenerative disease that hastens cognitive decline, while others preserve cognitive skills into their later years.

Making changes to reduce the risk factors in your life, such as diet, physical exercise, social activity, and cognitive engagement, is key to staying on the path of steady cognitive skills with advancing age.

This is what Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, PhD, ABPP/CN, addressed in her talk on healthy brain aging to a group of older, professional women in the Ralston Center in late October. Dr. Mechanic-Hamilton is the Penn Memory Center director of neuropsychological services and cognitive fitness programs.

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PMC Scholar presents 2018 Sanjeev Kumar Memorial Lecture

Penn Memory Center Scholar Laura Wisse, PhD, was selected to present the 2018 Sanjeev Kumar Memorial Lecture at the annual Biomedical Postdoctoral Council Symposium on Monday, November 5.

In her lecture, which followed a series of presentations related to biomedical research, Dr. Wisse discussed her work on the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and aging on the hippocampus using a newly developed postmortem atlas. Dr. Wisse draws aspects of her data from the PMC Aging Brain Cohort (ABC) study.

At PMC, Dr. Wisse works with PMC Co-Director David Wolk, MD, associate professor of neurology, and Paul Yushkevich, PhD, associate professor of radiology in the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Wisse’s main interests are imaging of the medial temporal lobe in aging and diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Major Depressive Disorder. She is also a member of the Penn Image Computing and Science Lab.

Addressing racial disparity in research, NIA details new strategy

By Janissa Delzo

A collaborative report issued by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) details a national strategy to both boost recruitment in Alzheimer’s disease research and increase diversity among those eligible research participants.

PMC Co-Director Jason Karlawish, MD, contributed to the October report titled, “Together We Make the Difference: National Strategy for Recruitment and Participation in Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Clinical Research,” which reflects two years of work.

“This document focuses on one area of urgency—the pressing need for increased and diverse participation in research studies as these scientific opportunities emerge,” wrote NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, MD. “Additional studies on new approaches will require greater numbers of people from across the disease spectrum.”

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Sunday Reads: Social Work Team Discusses “Therapeutic White Lies”

Before we jump into this week’s planned Sunday Reads, we wanted to talk briefly about the word “demented.”

The day after a man murdered 11 Jewish worshipers in Pittsburgh, President Donald Trump described the shooter as “sick,” “evil,” and “demented.” This was no unique occurrence; President Trump has described mass shooters as “demented” on at least three other occasions in the last two years.

This isn’t OK, PMC Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish wrote in a special edition of his Forbes column.

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