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By Terrence Casey

Two Penn Memory Center scholars — Shana Stites, PsyD, and Karolina Lempert, PhD — were recently awarded grants that will advance “not only their careers but as well the field of Alzheimer’s disease research,” PMC leadership said.

Join the Ralston Center October 11 for an expert discussion on how to care for someone with dementia or another cognitive impairment. Listen to real-world case examples and strategies to cope with increasingly difficult, confused, or erratic behavior. Discover resources available to help you.

“Caring for an Older Adult with Dementia”
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
October 11, 2017
Ralston Center
3615 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA
Lunch to follow
Registration Required

After undergoing a complete renovation, Making Sense of Alzheimer’s is back!

Making Sense of Alzheimer’s is a creative space for people to understand the past, present and future of Alzheimer’s disease. It features stories and ideas that tackle the changing understanding of what Alzheimer’s disease is and how we try to make sense of it in our lives. The voices of patients, scientists, writers, caregivers, students, singers, doctors, and artists are expressed here through words, images, and sounds. The website is an evolving forum, a gallery of ideas, a museum without walls.

1 p.m. Monday, September 18

Drug companies have spent billions of dollars on it. Academics have devoted decades to it. So where are the new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease?

STAT reporters Sharon Begley and Damian Garde will moderate a chat with Dr. Reisa Sperling of Brigham and Women’s Hospital — one of the world’s leading experts on Alzheimer’s disease — to answer just that.

Click here to register for the free live chat.

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Subcommittee proposed a $414 million increase for Alzheimer’s research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for fiscal year 2018. This announcement comes following similar action by the House Appropriations Committee in July.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to act on the funding bill this week.

As adults age, they have seven common priorities, according to research conducted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Of those priorities, health is No. 1, and neurodegeneration is by far the biggest concern.

“Cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s is the scariest disabling condition,” Surya Kolluri, Managing Director of Policy and Market Planning at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a recent video published by d.health Summit. In fact, research participants were more concerned about cognitive decline than all other “disabling conditions” combined, he said.

The United States is struggling to care for its elders. About 90 percent of Americans want to age at home, but many of them have to rely on paid care workers, because their families can’t provide the support they need.

Told through the stories of both care workers and their clients, Care illuminates the many challenges and deep attachments that can be formed between the elderly and the home care workers they depend on — and exposes the cracks in a system that is poorly serving both. 

The film introduces viewers to Vilma, an undocumented immigrant who is the lifeline for a 92-year-old living alone. Another care worker, Laurie, has grown deeply attached to a client who waits for a lung transplant. And we meet another family in crisis: Toni’s husband’s illness requires 24/7 care and is overwhelming his family. She asks their caregiver, anxiously, “You’re not going to quit, are you?”

With more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease, the stress for care workers has never been greater.

Watch the compete documentary here. Learn more at www.caredocumentary.com. 

Having “meaningful engagement in life” can improve one’s mood, thinking, and, ultimately, health, but older adults can lose some of that engagement in retirement.

A new collaboration between the Penn Memory Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) offers a solution through the Building Bridges Intergenerational Program, which was recently featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The program brings together older adults, some with cognitive impairment, as volunteers to read to or play with CHOP patients.

The volunteers “really enjoy working with the kids and seeing their faces light up,” said Megan Fucci, a PMC clinical social worker. “I hear all the time, ‘I wish I could take pictures,’ because they want to remember it.”

Click here to read the Inquirer story on the program.

Click here to learn more or to get involved.

By Chloe Elmer

Four years ago, frustrated by a series of inconclusive visits to other doctors, Eli and Janet Caplan scheduled an appointment with the Penn Memory Center, where Janet finally received the diagnosis they needed to hear: Alzheimer’s disease.

“I would give everything I have not to have known the Penn Memory Center,” said Eli Caplan, “but since I’m one of the unfortunate persons to have a loved one afflicted with the most scourging disease — Alzheimer’s — I’m grateful to be here.”