An Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
The play’s lead is a young and ambitious scientist who lives with a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s disease that she inherited from her mother and fears that she has already passed down to her young daughter.
Itching for any opportunity to help cure her daughter before her own mind deteriorates, Jilian (the researcher) agrees to perform research on a small, secluded Native tribe living in the Grand Canyon.
In March 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the most impactful health care reform bill since Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Today, President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress are poised to dismantle this law, a move that will endanger the health status of millions of Americans, especially those with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, medical experts argue.
The Affordable Care Act, known as the ACA or Obamacare, is a legislative engine created to reduce rising healthcare costs while improving health outcomes for all Americans. Medical experts maintain that the ACA provides vital support to those with cognitive impairments. Should the law remain intact, it will continue to benefit patients, caregivers, and families. Despite this, Republican leaders decry the ACA as a failure.
“The ACA has led to multiple initiatives that are improving the quality of care in the hospital, community, and long-term care settings,” Dr. Jason Karlawish, Co-Director of the Penn Memory Center, wrote in a recent Forbes column. “These initiatives are reducing out-of-pocket payments for prescription drugs, tackling the horror of elder abuse and neglect, and training healthcare professionals in geriatric medicine.”
The Penn Memory Center and supporter Joe Nicoletti welcomed friends and family to the Class of 1923 Arena Monday for the inaugural Penn Memory Center On Ice.
More than 30 guests enjoyed the exclusive access to the University of Pennsylvania’s historic skating rink in support of the PMC’s research efforts.
The Penn Memory Center thanks Joe Nicoletti for organizing the event and for his continued support.
For more images, visit the Penn Memory Center Facebook page.
An aging adult needn’t have a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s to see cognitive change, and one of the first victims of this “cognitive aging” is the ability to manage one’s personal finances.
This issue was the focus of a recent Economist article titled “Not losing it: The elderly, cognitive decline, and banking” in the February 11, 2017 print edition of the magazine.
Without looking at the Penn Memory Center faculty page, try to answer the question: Who is an Alzheimer’s disease doctor?
A neurologist?
Psychiatrist?
Family practitioner?
In his latest Forbes column, Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish recalls the definition applied by a task force he was on: a geriatrician, neurologist or psychiatrist who devotes a ‘substantial proportion’ of practice — at least 25 percent of patient contact — to diagnosing and caring for adults with cognitive problems. Unfortunately, he explains, ‘there aren’t a lot of doctors who meet this criterion.” Why not?
Theresa Clement, an Ambler, Pa.-based designer and TV personality, learned on the job that she could help people live better after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. She cannot slow the progression of the disease, but she describes what she calls a “Design Prescription.”
“I’m giving people some simple things that are inexpensive to do that can save so much stress, so much time, and make you be able to enjoy your loved ones even as they start to fade away,” Clement told philly.com.
Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts is an urgent wake-up call about the national threat posed by Alzheimer’s disease.
Many know the unique tragedy of this disease, but few know that Alzheimer’s is one of the most critical public health crises facing America. This powerful documentary illuminates the social and economic consequences for the country unless a medical breakthrough is discovered for this currently incurable disease.
WHI Epsom SE August 2009
Credit Paul Glendell Natural England
Personal and social goals may be effective in motivating older adults to exercise, according to a study this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Although numerous studies have demonstrated significant health benefits from walking – including decreased risk of heart disease, obesity, hypertension, and premature mortality – fewer than half of all adults achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Adults 65 and older are least likely to be physically active. In a 16 week period, both financial incentives and opportunity to donate to charity increased walking in older adults, by 2,348 steps and 2,562 steps per day, respectively.
Let Derek Yach describe a scenario for you: In a mountain village, vaccinations are expensive and difficult to obtain. Doctors only come every so often to deliver vaccines to children, so when the doctors make their visits, the families will travel many days through the mountains to meet the doctors. On one such trip, as the doctors are approaching the village, a car rolls off of the road in front of them, and the driver has fractured her femur and is bleeding heavily.
The doctors face a decision: They could treat the driver immediately and save her life but not reach the children waiting for vaccinations, or they could continue their trip up the mountain to deliver their vaccinations while letting the driver suffer her injuries alone.
In his TEDx talk, Derek Yach asks, “What would you do?”