{"id":1949,"date":"2015-07-17T09:10:55","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T14:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/?p=1949"},"modified":"2015-08-13T19:31:41","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T00:31:41","slug":"a-visit-to-alive-inside-movie-location-cobble-hill-health-center-in-brooklyn-ny-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/?p=1949","title":{"rendered":"A visit to “Alive Inside” movie location, Cobble Hill Health Center in Brooklyn, NY"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent visit to Brooklyn, NY to celebrate with my son and his newly pregnant wife, I remembered seeing\u00a0Cobble Hill Health Center<\/a>\u00a0on my last visit in his neighborhood. \u00a0It sits\u00a0on a quaint street just blocks from the Brooklyn Bridge Park. \u00a0I had walked past and wondered what lay within the nicely manicured entrance of the red brick building where several folks in wheelchairs sat outside.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMG_9662\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Having seen the movie,\u00a0“Alive Inside”<\/a>, I thought that name was the place where\u00a0Henry<\/a>\u00a0“came alive” while listening to music on an iPod for the first time. So I reviewed the movie on Netflix and got the name of the Activity Coordinator featured and gave her a call at work. \u00a0She was there and we set up an appointment to meet that afternoon.<\/p>\n

Taking my film producer\/photographer son along (just in case), we waited in the lobby for Yvonne Flunory. \u00a0She has been an Activity Coordinator at\u00a0Cobble Hill Health Center<\/a>\u00a0for sixteen years. She loves her work and makes it a family affair. She proudly explained that her daughter comes as a junior volunteer. Under the leadership of Louise Dueno, the Director of Therapeutic Recreation, along with two other Activity Coordinators, Cheryl McNeill and Ren\u00e9e Adamson, they offer the activities for all 364 residents. Forty beds are in the dementia unit. \u00a0They were all gracious enough to wait around after a long day to talk with me and my son for an hour. When sharing the bond of dementia care, there is so much to learn, so much to talk about, yet the subjects extended beyond what I expected.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9660\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wanted to know how the release of the movie\u00a0“Alive Inside”<\/a>\u00a0had affected them. \u00a0But first, I met\u00a0Louise Dueno. \u00a0She warmly received us in her office and told us of her family connections of caring for her father who had vascular dementia, what it was like for her as she shared the care with her sister, and how he ultimately died. \u00a0Then she described the difficulties she had caring for her uncle and how he became\u00a0a resident at Cobble Hill Health Center. So her professional life blurs into personal enabling her to \u00a0understand what families are dealing with. She related an experience she had just that day that gave her some relief that she had made a good decision about placing him in someone else’s care. She understood why I would take the time from a vacation to stop in and talk to her about caring for a loved one with dementia.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9659\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Dueno told me about the\u00a0The Alzheimer\u2019s Association, New York City Chapter’s\u00a0Palliative Care for Advanced Dementia: Training and Implementation<\/em><\/a>, called “Comfort First” being developed\u00a0in their facility with a grant coordinated by Ann Wyatt from the Alzheimer’s Association. \u00a0We talked about the\u00a0Music and Memory Program\u00a0<\/a>that became popular after the release of the movie\u00a0“Alive Inside”\u00a0<\/a>which offers certification that Cobble Hill Health Center has. \u00a0That means that upon the initial assessment of a new resident, music preferences are examined either from information from family members, popular music from their era, and other background information. She also mentioned how\u00a0Wisconsin<\/a>\u00a0is implementing this program in 250 long-term care facilities, replacing antipsychotic drugs with music for managing behavioral symptoms.\u00a0She showed me her collection of iPods being\u00a0charged\u00a0in her office, her stash of replaceable sponge headset covers, and her two laptops that they use with their residents. We agreed that the direct listening of ones’ favorite music was more effective than a group activity of listening to music as it shuts out all the other noises and distractions.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9657\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While we talked, another woman waited patiently to speak to us. \u00a0Turns out, she had some information she wanted to share. \u00a0For six years, Ammeka Berken has co\u00f6rdinated and initiated volunteer programs with\u00a0New York Cares<\/a>, a not-for-profit program that is a clearing house for volunteers in New York. \u00a0Since my son lives near Cobble Hill Health Center, she invited him to their recurring programs at the Center: \u00a0Friday they take up to ten residents down to the Brooklyn Bridge Park; Saturday is Swing night which is a dance for the residents; then on Thursday evenings they take residents down to hear the live music at the park. \u00a0She took the opportunity to spread her mission by including us.<\/p>\n

Passion is what drives those who believe in what they are doing. \u00a0Whether it is\u00a0Dan Cohen<\/a>\u00a0with his development of the\u00a0Music and Memory Program<\/a>, or initiating the\u00a0“Comfort First”\u00a0<\/a>program in residential facilities, or matching volunteers with life changing opportunities, or implementing activities to residents in long-term care facilities, or caring for a loved one, we move\u00a0by a force beyond our own strength and abilities. The wish to enrich\u00a0life for another human drives us to do, to pursue, to create, to learn, and encourage others to do the same. It was a delight to meet these passionate people.<\/p>\n

Our encounter built a bridge\u00a0from Mobile, Alabama to Cobble Hill, NY. May we learn from our connection and strengthen the resolve to improve the care for people with dementia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a recent visit to Brooklyn, NY to celebrate with my son and his newly pregnant wife, I remembered seeing\u00a0Cobble Hill Health Center\u00a0on my last visit in his neighborhood. \u00a0It sits\u00a0on a quaint street just blocks from the Brooklyn Bridge Park. \u00a0I had walked past and wondered what lay within […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,65,5,8,14],"tags":[466,488,474,470,463,473,472,467,464,471,465,475],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activities","category-alzheimers-association","category-author-publication","category-education","category-links","tag-alive-inside","tag-alzheimers-association","tag-ann-wyatt","tag-beatitudes-campus","tag-cobble-hill-health-center","tag-comfort-first","tag-dan-cohen","tag-ms-louise-dueno","tag-music-and-memory","tag-music-and-memory-program","tag-newyorkcares","tag-yvonne-flunory"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4cxZR-vr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1949"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1953,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949\/revisions\/1953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}