[Upbeat Music]
[Sarah Amos] Memory Masterclass is a space for people to come if they're starting to notice
[Sarah Amos] some changes in their memory or if they're just interested in learning more
[Sarah Amos] as they age. We want our brains to be healthy, and this is a place to explore
[Sarah Amos] what a healthy brain looks like and what practical things we can do to invest in
[Sarah Amos] our brain health as we age.
[Ila Schepisi] We have noticed here at adult day services that
[Ila Schepisi] sometimes families will reach out to us further along in the progression of
[Ila Schepisi] Alzheimer's and Dementia and they don't get to benefit as long as they could
[Ila Schepisi] have if they had started coming to our Center and using our services earlier.
[Ila Schepisi] So we were looking at services in the community trying to reach out and create
[Ila Schepisi] a referral network. When we did that we realized there were no services in our
[Ila Schepisi] local community providing programming to people with mild cognitive impairment,
[Ila Schepisi] providing resources to people who are only just now discovering that they are having some memory challenges.
[Ila Schepisi] So, we got a grant and we designed the program for
[Ila Schepisi] ourselves. So, that is how the Memory Masterclass was created.
[Sarah Amos] In Memory Masterclass, we teach six different lifestyle strategies. We talk about
[Sarah Amos] healthy exercise, proper diet, and good sleep habits because we know all of those
[Sarah Amos] invest in our brain functioning. We also talk about healthy leisure activities. So,
[Sarah Amos] "what are you doing in your free time and how can you make it beneficial for your
[Sarah Amos] brain?". We talk about memory strategies. So ways that you reduce the workload off of
[Sarah Amos] our brain, so we can really focus on what's important to us. And lastly, we
[Sarah Amos] talk about social connection. Not only do we teach the research behind each of our
[Sarah Amos] six strategies, but we talk about the ways that we can practically
[Sarah Amos] implement those strategies in our daily lives. We want people to learn from one
[Sarah Amos] another, and think about things they can do every single day to invest in their
[Sarah Amos] brain health. Whether or not they're noticing some changes, we know that these six
[Sarah Amos] strategies are going to be beneficial for them.
[Susan] I decided to take this class because I
[Susan] have a family history of Alzheimer's. Both my mother's and my father's side.
[Susan] So, I wanted to learn things to help myself, so that I could hopefully not go down
[Susan] that track. Things like thinking about my diet. Thinking about sleep, and how
[Susan] important it is. Things like exercise and important different kinds of exercise,
[Susan] and how I need to make sure I do the different kinds and incorporate them.
[Susan] De-stressing and conscious...just relaxing and taking advantage and sucking in the minutes.
[Sarah Amos] When we talk about these six different lifestyle strategies, we don't
[Sarah Amos] just look at the research of why they're important, but we also talk about how we can
[Sarah Amos] make them practical in our daily lives.
[Susan] One of the most important things to me
[Susan] that I learned, is how memories are made. I never thought about things like well,
[Susan] "you have to encode it first, because if it's not...if you don't take it in and
[Susan] then store it, it's not going to be there." This class kind of gave me permission
[Susan] and really encouraged me to do those kind of things for myself.
[Sarah Amos] Memory Masterclass is not just a place to learn, but a place to connect with
[Sarah Amos] other people who are concerned about similar things and interested in similar
[Sarah Amos] things. We get to learn together and learn from one another in our class.
[Sarah Amos] We want our students to leave feeling really empowered that there are a lot
[Sarah Amos] of things they can do every single day to invest in their brain health. Even if
[Sarah Amos] they were to get Alzheimer's or Dementia later on.
[Ila Schepisi] After 17 years working in
[Ila Schepisi] adult day services, we've just realized that the earlier you start working
[Ila Schepisi] on your brain health, the better it is.