UAMS to Hold Support Sessions for Early-Stage Dementia
| LITTLE ROCK – A series of education and support sessions for those with early-stage dementia and their family members is being offered Sept. 12 – Oct. 10 by the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Alzheimer’s Arkansas
The group sessions, offered at no charge, will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. each Monday for five weeks starting Sept. 12 at the Institute on Aging. Those wishing to attend must participate in a screening interview. To schedule the interview, contact Denise Compton, Ph.D., at (501) 526-5799, ext. 1029, or Priscilla Pittman, M.S.W. at (501) 224-0021.
The sessions will be:
• Sept. 12 Session 1: Welcome, Getting Acquainted and Overview of Dementia
What it means; how patients perceive their difficulties; information on how a diagnosis is determined; what causes symptoms; what is being done to research and treat the illness
• Sept. 19 Session 2: Pharmaceutical Interventions and Medication Issues
Update on current medications, vitamins, research, etc.
• Sept. 26 Session 3: Legal and Financial Planning
The latest information on legal, financial and health care planning, especially when someone in the family has dementia
• Oct. 3 Session 4: Staying Healthy
A discussion on developing and maintaining good eating habits, exercise and lifestyle for brain health
• Oct. 10 Session 5: Living for Today
A discussion about day-to-day living, coping and thriving with early dementia
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Related Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a 540,000-square-foot hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. Named best Little Rock metropolitan area hospital by U.S. News & World Report, it is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,836 students and 761 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.