A number of our communities host some special programs not found at other senior living communities – from our Namaste program to special rehabilitation programs and more. Our community in Chestnut Hill, EPOCH Senior Healthcare of Chestnut Hill, has recently announced the creation of an innovative and interesting program that we’re happy to announce.

The Woburn Advocate has a section within the paper called “Volunteer of the Week” and we’re proud to say that an EPOCH nurse liaison was recently featured there! Roberta Clements – or, as the paper labeled her, Lions Club organizer extraordinaire – works both at EPOCH and with chronically and critically ill children. As if this weren’t enough, Roberta is on the Sight and Hearing Committee of the Middlesex Lions, is president of the Sight and Hearing Foundation and is the secretary for the Visual Aid Committee for Lions District 33. She and her fellow volunteers provide close circuit televisions to visually-impaired residents of the district and help individuals get hearing aids.

Scientists continue to investigate the benefits of keeping an aging brain active. Many questions remain about what kinds of brain activity might help delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s or dementia.  While there is no conclusive evidence that exercising the intellect will forestall mental decline, there are still plenty of good reasons for an older person to go back to school or find other ways to keep learning.

Arthur Toga, a professor of neurology and director of the laboratory of neuroimaging at the University of California, Los Angeles, says when you are learning something new, you are actually stimulating blood flow to unused regions in your brain and prolonging the health of those areas.

When Bob Desrosiers won an “I Make a Difference” award for his volunteer efforts at EPOCH Senior Living on Blackstone Boulevard in Providence, he vowed to give the $250 cash award from Positive Promotions, a national organization, to the Alzheimer’s Association.

This week, Bob handed off the check to thankful representatives of the Rhode Island Alzheimer’s Association chapter, Camilla Farrell and Bella Garcia. Shown here are, from left, Bella Garcia, Camilla Farrell, Bob Desrosiers and EPOCH's Valerie Houshar. Thank you Bob, for all you do for our residents and the Providence community.

The folks at EPOCH Assisted Living at Melbourne have a few new faces at the community there. Elane McNabb and Terri Fishman have been named as the community’s new directors of community relations.

Both Pittsfield residents, Terri and Elane will assist seniors and their families as they explore senior living as a possible option. Terri has worked as a senior living specialist. In that role, she coordinated the appropriate levels of care for residents and organized community-wide events. She’s also worked as a program director at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Elane is a regular public speaker who has a successful background in real estate and retail. She attended Robert Morris College in Pittsburg, while Terri studied at UMASS Amherst.

We’re excited to have Elane and Terri as our all-star, two-person community relations team in Pittsfield. Stop by EPOCH at Melbourne sometime and say hello!