Key to keeping mind sharp? Do something
Peggy Bargmann has been a registered nurse working with Alzheimer’s patients in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities for 30 years.
The keys to keeping the mind sharp, she has found, have much more to do with socialization than medical science.
In turn, action is required by people whose brain power is showing signs, even ever so slight, of slipping. The necessary steps are measured in two simple words, Bargmann says: Do something.
“If your doctor told you that you had heart disease, you don’t just lay in the bed and die,” she reasons. “You say, ‘How do I keep my heart healthy?’ And you go out and start doing things. I think we need to have the same approach for individuals who are newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s — what are we going to do to keep you as healthy as possible?”
For Bargmann, the answer is to join the Brain Fitness Club Inc., a program she directs.
Joann Blanck, assistant director of nursing at Partners in Healthcare, an RNmanaged home care agency in Central Florida, offers a bit different perspective. Blanck says keeping the mind sharp as one ages is about making it a family affair, even a community affair.
“If I would make one suggestion — if you know a neighbor who lives by themselves or a couple who lives by themselves, go knock on the door and say hello,” Blanck said.
Two distinctive local views, one common thought: Stimulation, any stimulation, can enhance brain function that otherwise is in some degree of failing.
There is a plenty of national research to back up those contentions, mostly threaded together by remaining physically active and having good social connections, among other factors. For example, Harvard Medical School research has resulted in a six-step program for strengthening the mind, atop the list was “keep learning” and “use all your senses.” . Recommended activities range from involvement in the arts and music to talking, listening and playing word games. Again, something, anything.
Such thinking serves as the basis of the Central Florida Brain Fitness Club, where Bargmann is program director. The Brain Fitness Club is a community-based program that provides cognitive stimulation, light physical exercise and socialization for individuals experiencing Mild Cognitive Impairment, early Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.
Essentially, the club offers a therapeutic environment where members can engage in brain healthy activities and learn lifestyle adaptations.
Three 14-week semesters, with each consisting of 28 classes for $1,050, are offered annually at First United Methodist Church of Winter Park (the first location that started 10 years ago), First United Methodist Church of Orlando and University Carillon United Methodist Church in Oviedo.
During the semesters, graduate clinicians from the University of Central Florida’s Communication Disorders Clinic, supervised by a professor, conduct a thorough assessment identifying each member’s strengths. Based on the evaluation, an individualized plan of care is developed.
The graduate clinician then provides 30 minutes of one-on-one cognitive-communicative therapy each week. In addition, the clinicians furnish each member with “homework” worksheets. In 2013, the International Council on Activity Aging named the Brain Fitness Club as one of North America's most innovative active-aging programs.
Careful not to overstate, Bargmann says the program “is not going to cure [members]. We hope that there might be some stabilization,” she explains. “But what we can say is that we get repeated anecdotal stories from families and the individuals themselves that ‘this has made a difference in my life.’”