Baycrest’s new facility takes aim at dementia
TORONTO • Swim. Dance. Learn a new language.
This is pretty much the gold standard for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia — which currently affect more than 500,000 people in Canada alone. Failure rates for drug trials to treat these neurodegenerative diseases remains so high, in fact — reportedly 99.6 per cent — that earlier this year Pfizer announced it would stop its research in the area entirely.
But if humble leisure activities sound like poor substitutes for a cure-all pill, recent research offers reason for optimism. According to a July report published by Nature, a number of countries, including Canada, have seen a 20-per-cent drop in dementia rates, likely driven by lifestyle changes including mental and physical exercise. As Gill Livingston, a psychiatrist at University College London, told the journal, “If we had a drug that did that, people would be saying it’s a miracle drug,”
What’s needed now is sharper data on such “miracle” changes. Which exercises work best? In what order? That’s the focus of a new facility at Toronto’s Baycrest Centre, a leading research hub for aging and the brain.
Established in 1918 as the Toronto Jewish Old Folks Home, Baycrest Centre continues to operate a nursing home and hospital that serves 1,500 people a day. It now sits on a 23-acre campus in Toronto, and its reputation and its research encompasses such internationally renowned centres as the Rotman Research Institute and the Canadian Consortium on Degeneration in Aging — all of its work advancing the world’s understanding of aging.
Set to open later this year, the new Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness will function like many other seniors’ rec centres. There will be a gym and a pool, an arts and crafts studio, computer games and line dancing. But clients will also be matched with a caseworker who will plan their activities and meticulously track their progress over the long term.
“This hasn’t been done anywhere in Canada,” said Dr. Howard Chertkow, a cognitive neurologist and director of the Kimel Family Centre. “There is growing evidence that intense exercise and stimulation can reduce or delay dementia ... We want to find out what combinations of these activities are producing the best results.”
Many of the clients at the Kimel will be residents — a distinct advantage for researchers collecting longitudinal data.
“Baycrest has been built into one of the largest innovation hubs in the world,” says president and CEO Dr. William Reichman. “And to be situated within an actual community that cares for older people, that’s extraordinary.”
Baycrest researchers certainly conduct “pure” research, contributing to the discovery that the brain is capable of repairing itself after injury, for example. The centre has also been leading an international team in the race to develop the first functional, virtual brain.
Improving therapeutic interventions is also critical. Baycrest has pioneered rehabilitative techniques to restore cognitive function — first with pencil and paper exercises and later with software applications. Other recent projects include a free online “mental health checkup” to assess brain function (already taken by 60,000 people) and an app to help caregivers connect with each other and manage the challenging behaviours of dementia patients. Another effort is gauging how Virtual Reality might help with the neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia.
“We’re looking at how we can move the needle and learn something practical and make a difference,” says Chertkow.
More needs to be done. Baycrest’s Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation received $123.5 million in joint provincial-federal funding in 2015 — the most significant investment in aging and the brain in the country’s history. But the cost of Alzheimer’s to Canada’s health-care system and caregivers was $10.4 billion in 2016.
And Canada is the only G7 country that hasn’t implemented a national dementia strategy.
Doctors and researchers at Baycrest and the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration and Aging are playing a pivotal role in advising the Ministry of Health in its development.
“It’s not just a question of how we can care for people,” said Reichman, “but how we can take a preventative approach.”
WE’RE LOOKING AT HOW WE CAN MOVE THE NEEDLE.