Geriatric Medicine

Contact The Webmaster if You have some updates & news to put here!

Wednesday, July 30, 1997 

Health Scan: Making The Most of Memories

(July 22) Memory is not something to be taken for granted, as Alzheimer's sufferers and their families know all too well. People who have no trouble remembering the distant past or where they left their eyeglasses, or even where they live, don't appreciate how losing one's memory can affect mood and self-confidence. 

"I used to think that pain was the worst thing for an old person to bear, but I was wrong," says Bernice Schwartz, a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist. Schwartz recently launched the country's first English-language "memory club" for those suffering from various degrees of dementia or cognitive disabilities due to Parkinson's disease or a stroke. 

"What they most fear is losing control - the fear of the unknown. That is much more terrifying than pain." 

Schwartz, who came on aliya from Boca Raton, Florida, 10 months ago with her husband and three children, was eminently prepared for coordinating a memory club. A graduate of the San Jose State University School of Social Work, with a psychology degree from Indiana University, and extra courses in nursing and therapeutic counseling, Schwartz worked for many years in US hospitals and geriatric institutions as a bedside social worker. 

"That means I'm somebody who listens. I listen for strengths. Every human being has skills, even if they're very frail and disabled." 

When acquaintances heard of her credentials, they recommended that she meet Leah Abramowitz, coordinator of Melabev (Community Clubs for Impaired Elderly). After a short meeting, Abramowitz immediately mobilized her for the establishment of a twice-weekly English-language memory club in the capital on the model of the thrice-weekly Hebrew-speaking one, plus a support group at Shaare Zedek Hospital for patients' families. 

Schwartz notes that some physicians fail to appreciate the consequences of their instructions that an elderly patient at the onset of dementia be sent to an institution. 

"These are people who have kept their toothbrush in the same place for 60 years; doctors must understand what it means for them to suddenly leave home and move to a geriatric institution." 

There are 26 types of dementia, notes Schwartz, but Alzheimer's disease - the incurable progressive disease that is reaching epidemic proportions because of an aging population - is responsible for more than half of all dementias. 

During the earlier stages, patients can be helped to remain at home under family supervision if they are taught to cope with growing forgetfulness. That's where the memory club comes in. Schwartz goes along on the minibus that collects the participants who can't get to the club - a renovated shelter in the Givat Mordechai quarter - by themselves. 

"I call each of them the night before to remind them. It gives them assurance and they look forward to it. And when they see my familiar face on the bus, they immediately relax, even though none of them could tell me the phone number or address of the club and some can't even remember where they're going." 

They arrive about 9 a.m. and eat a full breakfast, taking part in activities until 12:30, when the minibus takes them home. 

Although memory loss can't be cured, patients can be helped to retain more of their memories, says Schwartz. 

"The trick is to use as many of your senses as possible. If you tend to forget where you put your keys, the next time you put them down, etch in your memory the way it looks, the touch of the metal, and say out loud exactly where you have placed them. Concentrate and analyze why you're putting them in a certain place. This exercise can really help." 

The club also has the use of a computer, with programs specially designed to promote short-term memory in older people. 

Other activities include shmoozing, arts and crafts, family and holiday celebrations and discussions of their problems. 

"It isn't a day-care center for the elderly, but a memory club to learn to enhance memory." 

Schwartz finds that before too long, participants regain their self-confidence. "Their personalities begin to come out and shine, and their sense of humor comes back because their anxieties are reduced. And, wonder of wonders, when this happens, their memory starts to come back, as if a fog had lifted. This part is very satisfying for the staff and the volunteers who run the club." 

Elderly people are very hard to please, she continues. "To please a child, you just have to give him a cookie and a balloon. If I did that with my club members, they'd laugh me out of the place. You have to earn their respect." 
Running the club in the English-speaking participants' native tongue is important, even if they know some Hebrew. "Because we're dealing with memory, using the primary language is vital," she stresses. 

A day's participation at the Melabev club, including transportation and lunch, costs NIS 75 ($25), but "people whose condition gives them eligibility under the Nursing Law are subsidized, and we've never turned anyone away because of an inability to pay." 

Funding also comes from the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, the Jewish Agency and the Jerusalem Municipality. 

In September Bernice Schwartz will be holding a series of free workshops in Jerusalem on how memory works and how age affects it, and will offer tips for improving memory. For further information, contact (02) 655-5049.