Alzheimer's Disease, Dementias and Healthy Aging

January Newsletter

Using the Project ECHO model, this 4-session tele-education series addresses topics in evidence-based care for persons with dementia and their caregivers. The program will identify strategies, best practices, screening tools, resources, clinical pearls, and emerging topics in this field. 

February 8 - Update on Anti-Amyloid Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease

John Steele Taylor, MD, UVMMC Memory Program Co-Director

February 22 - MIND-ful Eating and Cognitive Health

Amy Nickerson, MS, RDN, UVM Nutrition and Food Sciences

March 7 - The Challenges of Polypharmacy and Dementia: Tools for Deprescribing

Amelia Gennari, MD, Interim Chief of the Division of Geriatrics, UVMMC,

and Marci Wood, PharmD, Ambulatory Pharmacist Clinician, UVMMC

Burlington Adult Primary Care

March 21 - End of Life – Maximizing Advanced Directives

Stephen Berns, MD, Director of Education for Palliative Medicine and the

UVMMC Palliative Care Team

Register by Friday, January 26, 2024. This program has limited enrollment. The target audience is primary care teams, including providers, nurses, case

managers and social workers. We encourage teams to send multiple members; each participant must register individually.

HEALTHY LIVING FOR THE BRAIN & BODY

FOR THE NEW YEAR



A Special Virtual Educational Series

Get up to date about the latest research and how to make lifestyle choices that may help you keep your brain and body healthy as you age. Learn simple tips for heart-healthy cooking. Discover ways to increase your everyday movement and what types of movement/exercise get you the most "bang for your buck" in terms of heart health and wellness. Find out about the causes of sleep disturbances, the impact of poor quality sleep on health, brain performance and mood.

Making Your Home Dementia Friendly

The Alzheimer's Society (UK), is made up of people with dementia, caregivers, trusted experts, advocates, researchers and clinicians. This resource describes some of the ways to help caregivers and families to adapt the home environment to support the person living with dementia. Each section covers a different aspect of living at home. Each section lists practical tips to make aging in place and living safely with dementia in your home easier. By making some changes to your home, individuals living with dementia can continue to enjoy what's familiar and keep up routines and activities. 

Sugars May Affect Brain ‘plasticity,’ Helping with Learning, Memory, Recovery

When strung together, sugar molecules (monosaccharides) can make a wide array of complex sugars. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are formed by attachment of other chemical structures, such as sulfate groups, to the complex sugars. These sugars regulate proteins. In the brain, the most common GAG form called chondroitin sulfate, is found around brain cells. It is often found around neurons to stabilize the connections between them. GAG’s function can be disrupted when it's structure is altered. The research team is interested in how those alterations might regulate biological processes such as neuroplasticity and social memory. This could one day allow researchers to adjust these functions as a potential treatment for central nervous system injuries, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's or psychiatric disorders.

Strengthening the Dementia Capable Workforce: Dementia Training for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Providers

January 16, 2024

1-2 p.m. ET

As the population of individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities ages, so does the incidence of dementia. Communities need to be prepared to serve and support this population. This free webinar is presented by the National Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Center (NADRC).