Their recorded voices filled the room. The
tender words of a husband and wife recalling
the day they met; the heartrending tale of a man
who cared for his mother who had Alzheimer’s; fathers
and daughters happily reminiscing together about
growing up. And when the voices were silent, tears of
sorrow and of joy filled the room as hearts and minds
were opened. These were the stories told by people
with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
This emotional scene recently played out at the
Chapter’s “Eighth Annual Early-Stage Memory
Disorders Forum” on May 2nd at The Roosevelt Hotel
in Manhattan. Themed For The Record: sharing the past;
living the present, the Forum focused on story-telling as
a means of preserving memory. |
Jed Levine, Executive Vice President,
& Susan Goldfein, Forum Consultant |
Captured on CD for the StoryCorps Memory Loss
Initiative, the aforementioned stories provide a
poignant glimpse into the lives of people who live with
Alzheimer’s. StoryCorps is a national project that
instructs and inspires people with Alzheimer’s and related
dementias to record their memories. The project is led by Anne Basting, Ph.D., Director of the Center on
Age & Community, Associate Professor of Theatre at
the Peck School of the Arts, University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee. The Chapter was indeed fortunate that Dr.
Basting agreed to lead the plenary session.
Basting explained that by recording memories and
creating stories based on photographs, those with
Alzheimer’s can find different ways of communicating.
She said, “Our stories don’t stop with the diagnosis of
cognitive ability. The challenge for those without
cognitive disorder is to hear the humor and imagination
of those with cognitive disorder.”
The Forum attracted hundreds of people in the early
stage of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, their
caregivers, family members and healthcare professionals.
The day-long event featured workshops on
communication challenges, legal and financial planning,
Young-Onset memory disorders, early diagnosis,
Alzheimer’s in minority populations, and the state of
today’s research on Alzheimer’s. |
Keynote Speaker Anne Basting, Ph.D.,
presents to 300 Forum attendees |
Chapter Board Co-Chair Mark Zurack said the
Chapter staff “continues to have a very meaningful
impact on the residents of the City of New York.”
Chapter President and CEO Lou-Ellen Barkan
expressed her gratitude to the many people who
worked so hard to make the Forum successful, including
Paulette Michaud, Director of Early-Stage Services,
Jed Levine, Executive Vice President and Susan
Goldfein, Forum Consultant.
The Forum included two workshops in Spanish—
one on diagnosis, the other on legal and financial
planning.
In addition, simultaneous translation of the
plenary session into
Spanish was made possible by
MetLife Foundation.
The Chapter is very grateful to:
√ Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, Inc.
√ The New York State
Department of Health
√ The 80th Street Residence
for their support of the Forum
|
Forum attendee uses
Spanish-language
translation
services
during morning program |
