Center for Brain Health supports individuals with chronic diseases

Chronic diseases such as hypertension and heart disease are a fact of daily life for almost half of all adults in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 125 million people suffer from at least one chronic illness.

As a complement to existing individual and family services programs, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health has partnered with St. Rose Dominican Hospitals to offer Healthy Aging: Up2Me. This education and support program is designed to help individuals with chronic conditions learn how to manage and improve their health and well-being.

At the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Healthy Aging: Up2Me has been tailored to the needs of its participants - both those with chronic diseases and at-risk unpaid family caregivers. It's important for family caregivers to avoid developing a chronic illness because of stress and neglect of their own health and well-being.

"I consider myself a self-starter, and so I wasn't sure how much I would learn from the Healthy Aging: Up2Me program. However, I learned to reprioritize, making personal health my No. 1 priority on a daily basis, whereas it had previously been number two, three or perhaps even four on my list," said Jean Georges, Healthy Aging: Up2Me participant.

An evidence-based program developed at Stanford University, Healthy Aging: Up2Me fosters a supportive environment in which participants can focus on building the skills and coping strategies they need to manage their personal health. This is especially important for caregivers, who often neglect their own health needs while focusing on the needs of a loved one.

A series of six workshops is led by two trained peer facilitators who learned the techniques in order to manage their own health challenges. The first workshop, held in the spring of 2012, was led by Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health volunteers Patti Nixon and Pam Fine.

Upon completing the program, one participant commented, "I will highly recommend it to friends and acquaintances, especially those who are or have been caregivers, because many caregivers have chronic conditions and many neglect their own health."

Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health offers a variety of educational and support programs for patients and caregivers that are free and open to the public. For more information about Healthy Aging: Up2Me, or to sign-up for the next workshop, contact Susan Hirsch at 702-483-6023 or hirschs2@ccf.org.

More comprehensive information is available at keepmemoryalive.org.