MindAlert
Sponsored by the MetLife Foundation
MindAlert Related Links
Cognitive Fitness Organizational Links
The field of brain research is progressing at lightening speed. To keep informed of new research in cognitive fitness, turn to these websites for current findings and updates:
Alzheimer's Association
A well-organized site, which offers extensive information on Alzheimer's disease. Topics include: understanding the disease, medical issues involving diagnosis and treatment, resources for families and caregivers, and reports on research initiatives.
http://www.alz.org
Buck Institute for Age Research
Science at the institute focuses on the connection between aging and disease with scientists strive to develop diagnostic tests and treatments that will prevent or delay these conditions. An independent research facility in the country focused solely on aging and age-related disease. The sections on healthy aging carry many article and reports on brain health as well as other health-related issues.
www.buckinstitute.org
Dana Foundation and The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives
The Foundation is a private philanthropy with principal interests in brain science, immunology, and arts education. Dana.org serves as a gateway to reliable brain information. Brain Resources for Seniors provides older adults and their caretakers with links to sites related to brain health, education and general information.
www.dana.org
The Alliance is a nonprofit organization of 260 eminent neuroscientists committed to advancing public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research and to disseminating information on the brain in an understandable and accessible fashion.
www.dana.org Click on Dana Alliance
The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives sponsors the Brain Awareness Week Campaign Clearinghouse Web Site. The site is the result of an international effort organized by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives to advance public awareness about the progress, promise, and benefits of brain research. The site includes information on special events, educational resources, science information and community outreach.
www.dana.org/brainweek/
The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health
Operated by the Cleveland Clinic, the center opened in 2009 dedicated to serve as a national resource for the most current research and scientific information for the treatment of
Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's,
Huntington 's Diseases, and
ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) as well as focusing on prevention, early detection and education.The Center operates as an outpatient treatment and research facility in downtown Las Vegas. As the center develops, new research will emerge.
www.keepmemoryalive.org
Memory and Aging Research Center
Located in the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, the Center brings together the foremost specialists in aging and neuroscience for interdisciplinary investigations and works closely with other UCLA organizations, including the Center on Aging, the Alzheimer’s’ Disease Center, the Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology the Brain Research Institute, and the Brain Mapping Center.
www.memory.ucla.edu/home.htm
National Institute on Aging
As part of the Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral Center (ADEAR), NIA has developed a series of informational sites on aging of the healthy brain. The Changing Brain in Healthy Aging page describes what is considered a health changes and a description of the ACTIVE study. Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study, was the first randomized controlled trial to demonstrate long-lasting, positive effects of brief cognitive training in older adults.
www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers/Publications/Unraveling/Part1/changing.htm
also look under Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center (ADEAR) site www.alzheimers.org/adear
Oregon Health and Science University Brain Awareness Program
OHSU’s Brain Awareness Season is recognized as one of the premier neurological outreach programs in the nation. Every year, nearly 10,000 Oregonian residents, researchers, clinicians, policy makers and advocacy group members attend the season’s series of events.
www.ohsu.edu/obi/ Click on Brain Awareness found in the left column
www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/research-institutes/brain-institute/brain-awareness/index.cfm
Cognitive and Emotional Health Project: The Healthy Brain.
Three Institutes, the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), have joined efforts to launch this new trans-NIH initiative.
The core missions of the collaboration are advances in 1) understanding the positive and negative changes in cognition and emotion in adulthood, 2) what can be done to preserve and enhance positive outcomes. The overall goal of the "Healthy Brain Project" is to assess 1) the state of longitudinal and epidemiological research on demographic, social and biologic determinants of cognitive and emotional health in aging adults and 2) the pathways by which cognitive and emotional health may reciprocally influence each other.
http://trans.nih.gov/CEHP/index.htm
Maintaining Mental Fitness
AARP
AARP sponsors two web pages specifically for brain health.
This page provides general information for the consumer on activities for healthy living
www.aarp.org/health/healthyliving/brain_health/
The Staying Sharp initiative is a joint project of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and NRTA: AARP's Educator Community. Staying Sharp is funded in part by the MetLife Foundation. The content was designed to provide consumers with accessible information on the brain, new research findings, and way to maintain the brain.
www.aarp.org/health/brain/program/
Fit Brains Blog
Brain fitness begins with learning the basics of your brain and how your environment influences the structure and function. Created by Dr. Nussbaum, a clinical neuropsychologist and national leader on brain health, Fit Brains blog offers a large collection of brain health information, which helps to promote healthy brain development through brain fitness, exercise, nutrition and brain games. Click here to access Dr. Nussbaum’s Fit Brains Blog.
http://www.fitbrains.com/blog/
Learning, Arts, and the Brain, The Dana Consortium Report
Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, released in March 2008, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?
www.dana.org/news/publications/publication.aspx?id=10760
National Center for Creative Aging
The National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) was founded in 2001 and is dedicated to fostering an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and healthy aging and to developing programs that build on this understanding. Based in Washington, DC, NCCA is a non-profit organization with 2,500 members and is affiliated with The George Washington University. NCCA is located at: 4125 Albemarle St., NW, Washington, DC 20016
www.creativeage.org
SharpBrains (commercial site)
As “a market research and advisory company focused on providing high-quality information and guidance to navigate the brain fitness and cognitive health market,” the SharpBrains site is a wealth in information on current brain research, interviews with leading scientists and science writers. A monthly newsletter provides updates on brain fitness.
www.sharpbrains.com
Brain Fitness Channel (commercial site)
Posit Science has created an informative website on current brain health information and fitness recommendations including research implications on diet and reviews of new books on the brain and brain fitness. A newsletter is also available with current research highlighted
http://bfc.positscience.com
Kairos Dance Studio
The Dancing Heart: Vital Elders Moving in Community developed by the Kairos Dance Studio was awarded a 2008 MindAlert Award. The Dancing Heart is one of the only evidence-based arts programs and is a best practice for working with frail elders. Kairos Dance uses this program of dance and storytelling to create a sense of community and well-being in participants of all ages, and from all walks of life. This program improves flexibility, energy, balance, memory and socialization of older, frail adults.
www.kairosdance.org
Lasell Village at Lasell College
One of the early residential life-long learning communities, Lasell Village continues to provide integration of intergenerational college classes and activities with the security of a continuing care retirement community near the campus.
www.lasellvillage.com
River Institute for Senior Education (RISE)
The 2003 winner of the MindAlert Award, RISE is one of the early leaders in the growing Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR) movement opening campuses across the continent to older adults teaching other older adults. Located at River College, the Institute uses the campus facilities for classes, hosts intergenerational conversations during an inexpensive lunch, opens to members the college’s library and Health and Fitness Center as well as provide parking passes.
www.rivier.edu/departments/rise/general.html
Senior Center Without Walls
A 2008 MindAlert winning site and program, the Senior Center without Walls demonstrates an effective brain fitness program for isolated or homebound people through telephone classes and special events.
www.seniorcenterwithoutwalls.org/
SONGWRITING WORKS™
SONGWRITING WORKS™ is an internationally recognized model for promoting health through the power of songwriting and performance. Winner of the 2007 MindAlert Awards, SONGWRITING WORKS™ develops a sense of mastery through writing and performing music which research has demonstrated boosts the immune system response. In developing a singing or a songwriting practice, new neural pathways are created, literally increasing along with self-awareness, and the ability to communicate more effectively (verbally and non-verbally).
www.songwritingworks.org
STAGEBRIDGE
One of the 2009 MindAlert Award winners, STAGEBRIDGE through theater and storytelling uses creative arts and community engagement to promote healthy aging. As the nation's oldest Senior Theatre Company, STAGEBRIDGE ‘s Healthy Aging Programs are geared to reach older adults and educate the healthcare community about older adults. The programs provide seniors with creative aging opportunities and promote creative healthy aging which: 1) provides stimulation of mental activity, an exercise for the brain, 2) increases self-confidence when speaking in front of a group, 3) increases creativity and the use of the imagination, and 4) encourages a more positive attitude, leading to improved physical health.
http://www.stagebridge.org/
St. Barnabas Senior Services’ Borchardt Cyber Café
The Cyber Café is a dramatic departure from the typical computer lab, both in architecture and curriculum. Designed as a mid‐century French café, seniors are invited to sit and enjoy coffee, pastries and social opportunities whether they are using the computers or not. The Café won the 2008 MindAlert Award for seeking to engage seniors in a lifestyle of learning. Rather than focusing on learning computers as an end goal, the Café instead offers computer use as a tool for Healthy Living and Healthy Aging.
http://www.sbssla.org/CyberCafe.html
The Intergenerational School
The Intergenerational School in Cleveland is one of seven charter schools recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for helping to close the achievement gap in 2007. Relationship-based mentoring programs provide one avenue for reconnecting communities in a way that promotes lifelong learning and healthy aging for all participants. Recent research at the school documented that elders who participate with the children in learning activities report a greater sense of purpose and well-being and show less cognitive decline than matched elders who participate in other activities at their care facilities. This is true even for elders who are experiencing memory challenges. Given the positive impact for older adults, the school was honored as a 2008 ASA MindAlert Award winner.
www.tisonline.org
The Memory Academy
The Memory Academy is the 2009 MindAlert Award winner. This original and cutting edge program presents facts about normal aging and utilizing the latest research, provides challenging mind and body exercises to keep sharp and strong while maintaining health and independence. The program engages weight training, aerobics, balance and posture improvement, relaxation and breathing techniques coupled with to social engagement and various memory techniques and activities.
www.thememoryacademy.com
TimeSlips
Winner of the 2006 MindAlert Awards, TimeSlips is a group process that opens storytelling to people with cognitive challenges by replacing the pressure to remember with the encouragement
to imagine. University of Minnesota at Milwaukee Center on Age and Community research found that storytelling sessions improve mood, communication, and social interaction.
www.timeslips.org 
Thursday, September 02, 2010 
11:34:48 AM PST