Celebrate National Older Americans Month by attending the third annual Upper Bucks Forum on Aging, Benner Hall, 1260 Cherry Street, Richlandtown, PA 18955.

This free, public educational event is being presented to provide citizens 50 years of age or older with valuable information about health and human services. It is sponsored by Phoebe Richland Health Care Center, Richland and Haycock Townships, the Boroughs of Richlandtown, Quakertown, Trumbauersville and Perkasie. Additionally, the Bucks County Area Agency on Aging, the Phoebe Institute on Aging and the Bucks County Long Term Care Consortium support this program. Multiple speakers will be presenting information on a variety of topics.

Call 267-371-4566 for more information.
The event is free and open to seniors 50 and older.

2009 FOCUS ON DEMENTIA CARE

Phoebe Institute on Aging Spring Event
With Cameron J. Camp, Ph.D.
May 27 and 28, 2009

Dr. Cameron Camp has written over 100 articles and book chapters in gerontology, particularly in the area of Montessori-based activities for residents with Dementia-related diseases. He is Director of Research and Product Development at Hearthstone Alzheimer Care, based in Woburn, Massachusetts.

I'm Still Here: an Innovative Approach to Providing Dementia Care™
Wednesday, May 27
3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
The Inn at Reading, Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
Free

This event is geared toward caregivers, professionals working in aging services, parish nurses, clergy, consumers and other members of the general public.

Dr. Camp will introduce his own Montessori-based activities programs for persons with dementia within the larger framework outlined in the new book by his colleague John Zeisel Ph.D., founder of Hearthstone, entitled I'm Still Here: A Breakthrough Approach to Understanding Someone Living with Alzheimer's™ Espousing nonpharmacological approaches to treating Alzheimer's, I'm Still Here focuses on connecting with individuals with Alzheimer's through their abilities that don't diminish with time, such as understanding music, art, facial expressions, and touch. People who have the disease are highly creative and emotionally intelligent, and during the course of Alzheimer's can continue a vibrant and meaningful relationship with their loved ones.

Persons with dementia need cognitive stimulation, along with opportunities to successfully and meaningfully interact with their physical and social environments on a regular basis. These persons have needs similar to those without cognitive impairment: the need to feel self-worth, the need to express one's thoughts and feelings, the need to have a sense of belonging, the need to have a sense of accomplishment, and the need to have a sense of order. Many of the problems associated with dementia can be traced to the inability to meet these needs. This workshop will provide the tools needed to implement Dr. Camp's Montessori-based activities methodology, which includes stimulating, interesting, and challenging activities that can be performed successfully as a means of helping persons with dementia.

Limited space is available for this event. Interested persons should contact Helen Haas at 610-794-5135 or hhaas@phoebe.org for more information. The registration fee will include 7 hours of training, all materials, certificate of completion, and lunch. Application is pending for CEU's for social workers and nursing home administrators.

Cameron J. Camp, Ph.D., is a noted psychologist specializing in applied research in gerontology. Dr. Camp received his doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of Houston in 1979. For 16 years he served in academic settings, teaching coursework in adult development and aging while rising to the rank of Research Professor of Psychology at the University of New Orleans. Later, as Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Myers Research Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, his work involved research into non-pharmacologic interventions for behaviors associated with dementia. His current position as Director of Research and Product Development at Hearthstone Alzheimer Care enables him to continue his work in translational research and application of interventions to alleviate challenging behaviors and increase the level of functioning of persons living with dementia. It centers on the development of two major lines of research: Montessori-Based Dementia Programming©, which focuses on developing engaging activities for persons with dementia, and a technique called spaced retrieval, which enables persons with memory deficits to successfully remember information over days, weeks, months, or longer.

Phoebe Institute on Aging Benefit
Thursday, November 12, 2009
6 - 9 pm
Address by Lisa Genova, Ph.D.,
author of New York Times bestseller Still Alice
Lehigh Country Club - Allentown, PA

Phoebe Institute on Aging Community Program
Friday, November 13, 2009
8:30 am - noon
Featured Speaker: Lisa Genova, Ph.D.,
author of New York Times bestseller Still Alice
The program will include theatrical vignettes from Dr. Genova's book, performed by a local theatre company, and an interactive panel and audience discussion focused on understanding the experience of living with Alzheimer's disease.

This event is geared toward caregivers, professionals working in aging services, parish nurses, clergy, consumers and other members of the general public.

Still Alice author Lisa Genova graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy and Support Network International and DementiaUSA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. She lives with her husband and two children in Cape Cod. Still Alice is her first novel.

Still Alice is a compelling novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease. Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives the devastating diagnosis. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. This book brings information about the disease itself and insights about its effects on the individual and human relationships.