May 19, 2022 – In 2018, David Elliot, an 83-year-old retired international businessman, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His health care providers encouraged his wife, Susan, to join a caregiver support group and encouraged David to join a group for patients as soon as possible.
The Elliots had been told that if such care wasn’t started early, a person with Alzheimer’s could become “set in their ways” and decline more quickly, Susan says. So they began searching for the right support but couldn’t find the services they needed.
“We didn’t know what to do or where to go,” Susan says. “Should we give up?”
Fortunately, they were referred to Together Senior Health, which offers a cognitive health program: Moving Together, dedicated to reducing the impact of pandemic, when everything was shut down. They had been taking part in this program, as well as other in-person activities for people with Alzheimer’s, before then, but the other activities were not available during the lockdown.
“David looks forward to the consistency and the twice-a-week meetings,” Susan says. “At first, he blew off some of it because he wanted something more physical, but he now understands the concepts, the breathing, and how it’s all coming together to help him.”
The program is available to seniors through their Medicare Advantage plan, and those who do not have this plan can self-pay if they would like to participate. Together Senior Health is also working with major institutions, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of California, San Francisco, to continue research into this program. It’s free to take part in the study. People who are interested can check to see if they’re eligible here.
No ‘One-Size-Fits-All’ Solutions
Heather M. Snyder, PhD, vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association, says her group made it a priority to fund research into this program and other “risk reduction interventions — especially lifestyle-based interventions – because they have great potential both for prevention of dementia and/or cognitive decline and improving quality of life for those living with cognitive decline.”
She described the Together Senior Health study as a “unique program that aimed to evaluate these types of strategies and test specific intervention tactics.”
But, she says, lifestyle-based risk reduction programs “are unlikely to be ‘one-size-fits-all,’ so it is important to investigate and verify a range of programs that capitalize on local customs, traditions, and resources.”
She recommends that people with Alzheimer’s, dementia, or cognitive decline, or people caring for others with those conditions, talk to their health care providers about what type of intervention might be the best fit.
“Evidence suggests that being physically active, even after cognitive decline, provides better health outcomes and higher perceived quality of life,” Snyder says.