Live & Learn program offered in 5 locations

    • Warwick Public Library, 600 Sandy Lane; Tuesdays; 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
    • Middletown Public Library, 700 West Main Road; Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to noon.
    • Alzheimer’s Association chapter office, 245 Waterman St., Providence; Tuesdays; 12:30 to 2 p.m.
    • Woonsocket Public Library, 303 Clinton St.; Wednesdays; 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
    • St. Francis de Sales Church, 381 School St., North Kingstown; Thursdays; 10 a.m. to noon.
    Throughout the five locations there are more than 60 participants, and you may know someone who would benefit by attending the program started three years ago with a grant from the state Department of Elderly Affairs. However, people have to qualify to attend Live & Learn through a screening process.
    “I look forward to this program every week, and I hope it continues,” said one Live & Learn participant. The program is a multitude of creativity, activity and socialization for the person with memory loss and also offers much needed respite for caregivers.
    In the program, a group of 10 to 15 people from different communities meet weekly to focus on maintaining their quality of life. The social activities are a combination of exercising with a fitness instructor, discussing current events, virtual travel and discussions, social gatherings such as bowling, presentations from local historians and other outside events. Each week, the group decides what they would like to focus on for the following week.
    The groups also take part in several volunteer projects, including making “Linus” blankets for local hospitals, putting together food baskets at church pantries, stocking shelves at the library and selling items to support the Alzheimer’s Association. Some of those items are created by the participants. For example, the groups took a watercolor painting class at a library and produce sets of note cards that are being sold to raise funds. By the way, the cards make great gifts.
    Live & Learn participants regularly help with office mailings and volunteer at various Alzheimer’s events such as selling items at farmer’s markets and other events such as the Capital City Auction coming up on March 10 at the Botanical Garden in Roger Williams Park.
    Live & Learn participants also get the opportunity to learn how to manage their disease through personal interaction and suggestions and guidance from other program members. As one participant said, "The group has helped me learn to laugh and find joy in my everyday struggle with forgetting a name or losing my wallet." Alzheimer’s patients are finding ways to laugh at themselves through art, poetry, playing stick ball, trying new hobbies and being involved in community projects. The ongoing exercise classes and Tai ji instruction have improved patients’ coordination, balance and flexibility. Some participants have even done the fox trot and waltz in some sessions.
    To learn more about the Live & Learn program or to set up an appointment, contact Margaret “Annie” Murphy in our office by calling (401) 421-0008 or e-mailing Mar-garet.Murphy@alz.org.

    Camilla Farrell is development director of the Alzheimer’s Association Rhode Island Chapter in Providence. She can be reached at (401) 421-0008.