ADRC News

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. Constance McBride took a long look around the assisted living facility, struck by the gender imbalance among her mother’s peers. They were predominantly women — wives and mothers, shaped as children by the Great Depression, who had gone on to outlive their spouses. Many of these members of “The Lonely Girls” club were Read More The post Art of the Mind: The Lonely Girls appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Art of the Mind: The Lonely Girls

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. As Ria Hills visited her mother each day in the nursing home, she began to notice the other dementia residents fade away, as if in chunks. But as she looked closer, she realized that the image of the person was changed, but not lost. This sentiment shines through in “Fractured.” When Ria first Read More The post Fractured Portrait appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Fractured Portrait

Cognitive testing is an important part of aging and dementia research, but many people are unsure what the experience involves. In this new video, Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, PhD, director of cognitive fitness programs and neuropsychological services at the Penn Memory Center, explains why researchers use cognitive testing and what participants should expect during a visit. She discusses the thinking skills assessed, including memory and attention. She also explains what testing looks like, why family members usually wait outside the room, and how staff help participants feel at ease. What is cognitive testing? Cognitive testing helps researchers understand abilities in areas such Read More The post Cognitive Testing Explained: What Research Participants Should Expect appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Cognitive Testing Explained: What Research Participants Should Expect

  The post Dancing in the Rain: Margo Woodacre On Finding Yourself After Caregiving appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Dancing in the Rain: Margo Woodacre On Finding Yourself After Caregiving

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. On a rainy Tuesday, Carl Duzen pulls open the garage door to his Havertown home as his wife, Susan Jewett, watches from the dry kitchen. He goes inside, dives into his toolbox — “he loves his tools,” Susan says — and finds a screwdriver. An old clunker of a television is positioned under Read More The post Finding beauty in what remains appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Finding beauty in what remains

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. Her car parked on the side of a steep Green Lane, Michele Davis looks out over her hometown. Ahead, there’s the iconic Manayunk Bridge, the face of the neighborhood visible to passers-by on the Schuylkill Expressway. Below, there’s Main Street, where 20-somethings fill the streets on warm summer afternoons and the bars on Read More The post Typical Day appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Typical Day

By Dalia Elsaid A blood test that costs a fraction of a brain scan could spare patients unnecessary procedures and give doctors more confidence in a diagnosis, according to a recent study.   Researchers followed 100 memory clinic patients who received a new blood test for Alzheimer’s disease. The test improved diagnostic confidence, reduced unnecessary imaging, and underscored the need for emotional support after results are shared.  Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease has long relied on procedures that are costly, invasive, or difficult to access, including brain scans that cost thousands of dollars and spinal fluid tests many patients find uncomfortable. A study published this spring Read More The post Blood test for Alzheimer’s reduces need for costly brain scans, study finds appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Blood test for Alzheimer’s reduces need for costly brain scans, study finds

The post The Stories We Tell: Cultural Narratives of Dementia and Aging appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading The Stories We Tell: Cultural Narratives of Dementia and Aging

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. Alzheimer’s Disease impacts both its victims and the people who care for them. Poet Holly Hughes knows this all too well, having cared for her mother as she went through the stages of Alzheimer’s disease. As a poet, it was only natural for her to find solace in works of poetry. After her Read More The post Beyond Forgetting appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Beyond Forgetting

The post Polluted Minds: The Surprising Connection Between Pollution and Alzheimer’s Disease appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Polluted Minds: The Surprising Connection Between Pollution and Alzheimer’s Disease