Alzheimer's Disease, Dementias and Healthy Aging

December Newsletter

Dementia Friendly Middlebury

"What it feels like to have Alzheimer's"

Thursday, December 7th from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Ilsley Public Library, Community Room

 75 Main St, Middlebury

Dementia Friendly Middlebury is hosting a debut screening of “What it feels like to have Alzheimer’s.” This movie, featuring Pamela Smith an East Middlebury resident, includes several pauses where a facilitator will invite viewers to reflect on how they or those they love are experiencing some of the changes brought on by dementia.

Following the movie there will be an advocacy update and panel discussion to explore the making of the film, what it is like to live with Alzheimer’s in Middlebury and how Dementia Friendly initiatives can help communities be more inclusive. Audience questions and ideas are welcome.

This free event is open to anyone interested in joining and is ADA accessible. A lite lunch will be served. Please RSVP for planning purposes.

BOLD Public Health Centers of Excellence

Video Demonstrating Cognitive Assessment

The following videos show a brief cognitive assessment and a peer-to-peer discussion of important aspects of assessing cognition and disclosing an Alzheimer's disease diagnosis during a primary care visit. The videos were developed for primary care practices and feature an actual primary care physician and patient living with Alzheimer's disease. The videos were produced by the American College of Physicians Foundation and the Alzheimer's Association.

The CARERS & TEACH Programs for Dementia Family Caregivers

CARERS (Coaching, Advocacy, Respite, Education, Relationship and Simulation) is an evidence based therapeutic group program that enhances the knowledge, skills, and competence of informal family caregivers of people with dementia. TEACH (Training, Education, and Assistance for Caregiving at Home) is a therapeutic, evidence-based group designed for family members who are new to caregiving.  The University of Vermont Medical Center Dementia Family Caregiver Center and UVMMC Department of Neurology are offering these programs in 2024.

Winter/Spring Schedule 2024

TEACH: January 12-February 2, 2024.

Time: 2:00-3:30. Facilitator, Rhiannon Champagne, LICSW

CARERS Care Partners /Spouses: February 12-April 8, 2024

Time: 1:30-4:00. Facilitators, Sara Levesque, BSW, MSW candidate, Dara Stimson, LICSW

CARERS Adult Children: March 14-May 2, 2024.

Time: 4:30-6:30. Facilitators: Lisa K. Lax, LICSW, EdD and Emily Mars Raymond, MSW

CARERS Care Partners/Spouses: April 4-May 23, 2024.  

Time: 1:30-4:00.  Facilitators: Rhiannon Champagne, LICSW and Lucas Kovacevich, MSW

Diagnosing Vascular Cognitive Impairment: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives

Cerebrovascular disease is a major cause of cognitive decline and dementia. This is referred to as vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). Diagnosing VCI is important, among others to optimize treatment to prevent further vascular injury. This narrative review addresses challenges in current diagnostic approaches to VCI and potential future developments. Researchers review how diagnostic criteria for VCI evolved over time and highlight the challenges of diagnosing VCI in clinical practice. Assessing the severity of vascular brain injury on brain imaging is often imprecise and the relation between vascular lesions and cognitive functioning shows high individual variability. The researchers propose the need for a fundamentally different approach to diagnosing VCI, which should be more dimensional, including multimodal quantitative assessment of injury, with more accurate estimation of cognitive impact, and include biological definitions of disease that can support further development of targeted treatments.