The Alzheimer project : “REMEMBRANCE”
“REMEMBRANCE” – A SERIES OF THERAPEUTIC AND INTERACTIVE FILMS FOR PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS
TRAILER : the following sequences are brief versions of the full length 3 minute living tableaux.
“Remembrance” is a series of 1,000 living tableaux, each lasting 3 minutes.
This body of moving images called “dreamscenes” revolves around the philosophy of time.
Each 3-minute film is a single sequence, filmed with high-end equipment, and studio edited to transform the imagery into a living tableau.
Contrary to ordinary programming this collection of films does not provide a storyline.
The patient is entranced by nature’s simple rhythm in time and an acquiescence to a peaceful place.
The long sequence shots are accompanied by ambient sounds of nature, original musical compositions, or merely pure silence.
The complete films are an invitation to relax, to reflect, and to discover a series of contemporary living tableaux from all points of the globe.
In 2007, we started to produced a series of films adapted for specialized audiences.
Our films are projected in hospitals, hospices, care facilities and other environments where people suffer from dementia or other related diseases.
This offers calm and soothing stimulation through cinema therapy, music therapy and guided imagery, a new form of multi-sensorial art-therapy.
Cognitive functions regroup several cerebral functions, memory being one of them, and they depend on the activity of well defined anatomical structures.
In dementia related diseases, these specific cognitive functions are affected.
“Remembrance” stimulates the episodic memory* (long term memory), relaying a precise life episode of an individual, which is forever engraved on their long-term memory. This would include but is not limited to : sunsets, ocean, animals, birthday parties, dance…and other universal recollections.
After a three year collaboration with the medical field, the collection is now available on DVD : each box contains 4 dvds with 4 films of 42 minutes each and a booklet on how to use the films. The collection is also available on Blue Ray discs.
Pr Yves Agid – Scientific director at the Brain Institute, Paris, France.
His Mission : Develop new innovative technics to cure Neuropathologies
“Someone affected by dementia needs to have his or her spirit open,
we need to make them see, hear and listen, they need to perceive things !
It’s good for them ! the brain is a complex molecular biology system,
what’s good for us, is even better for them !”
Today’s harsh economic climate requires most adults to work, thus rendering the caregiving responsibilities for family members with dementia, even more challenging. The dementia cure is yet distant and drugs have been proven to have little, if any, impact on the disease, and may even carry negative side effects (research published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration.) This project provides daily stimulation for patients AND caregivers.
Projecting images not only improves the aesthetic environment, it encourages time travel, reduces anxiety levels and can also contribute to the healing process as the films create an environment conducive to relaxation and a positive distraction.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM & CHALLENGE?
According to the C.D.C, (Center for disease control and prevention) Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disease that gets worse over time and currently has no cure. It is the most common type of dementia and accounts for 50 to 70 percent of dementia cases. Other types of dementia include vascular dementia, mixed dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. As many as 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life. Today it is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. For more information, see www.alz.org
What is known about caregiving for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or other Dementia?
. An estimated 25-29% of caregivers of persons age 50 or older provide assistance to someone with a cognitive impairment, a memory problem, or a disorder like Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia (NAC, 2004).
. For Alzheimer’s disease alone, in 2008 there were an estimated 9.9 million caregivers providing 8.5 billion hours of care at a value of $94 Billion dollars (Alzheimer’s Association, 2009).
. The average age of a caregiver to a person with Alzheimer’s disease or other is 48 years old. (Alzheimer’s Association, 2009).
. 18% of children 8 to 18 years old provide unpaid care for someone (Alzheimer’s Association, 2009).
. The vast majority (87%) of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease are cared for at home by family members (Alzheimer’s Association, 2009).
. Caregivers provide assistance to a person with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia who is their parent or parent-in-law (57%), grandparent (11%), or spouse (6%; Alzheimer’s Association, 2009).
. 10% of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease or an other dementia are doing so long distance.
References : Alzheimer’s Association, 2008: Alzheimer’s Association, 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures
Dr Blandine Raffin, Head of the Scientific committee of the Remembrance Films serie.
HOW WILL THIS PROJECT HELP ?
The institutions and families around the globe will be able to watch the films, immediately enhancing the quality of life for people living with dementia, while allowing family members more flexibility to work, run errands, practice self-care, etc.
Our films are already being used in hospitals and memory units around the world.
They have been tested by renown doctors and specialists and are now considered as a form of art therapy.
Together with our partners, we are looking to expand the concept and start the first “neuro-television” network in the world, with specially tailored programming, 24 hours a day (for more information contact us).
This is a 24/7 channel, custom made and targeted for people affected stress, dementia, traumatic brain injury and stress.
An example of a similar “Mind-Body” Medicine facility : the Snoezelen multi sensory rooms :
The committee of the remembrance film serie will publish the results of the on-going study in medical journals containing.
These multi sensorial initiatives are redefining therapy by partially reducing drug consumption of patients and improving the quality of their daily lives.
The selection of films for projection to patients has been assembled based on the behavioral studies conducted by a team of medical experts.
Adapting the films based on studies that analyzed the patients’ responses to the scene selection, their order, the music’s rhythm, the correlation with chronotherapy (treatment scheduling), allowed us to produce 5 different “dream sequences”, 45 minutes each.
Whether the films are used as living tableaux in common spaces, as omni present entertainment, or during specific workshops, the films have a comforting affect, calming the evening’s stress, called “vesperal anxiety” or “sundowning”.
The therapeutic impact of the projections will continue to be measured in several medical environments : hospitals, specialized homes, Alzheimer’s centers, maternities and emergency rooms.
They help provide a daily rhythm by creating a time table, reducing the stress of patients and caregivers.
YOU CAN HELP !
Help us send the first set of 4 DVDs to institutions and caregivers by going to www.forgetdementia.net and we will send the box of “remembrance” to hospitals and caregivers, anywhere in the world, nowhere is too far. (since the web site is not yet functioning, please contact us for orders and information).
Our first goal is to send the first 1,000 DVD’s to hospitals and institutions.
Our second objective is to launch the first television channel tailored for the specialized audience and available 24/7 : NEURO TELEVISION.
Vice-President of the Institute of Life
Founded in 1960, the Institute of Life is a center for reflection and action. Our mission is to discover how scientific results may be put to the best possible use for the betterment of humanity and safeguarding our planet’s environment. The Institute organized the first world conference concerning the Alzheimer Disease in 1981. .Nobel prize recipients who have given their support include : N. Borlaug, Willy Brandt, M. Gorbatchev, Nelson Mandela and A. El Sadat. . Over the last 50 years, 3,500 women and men, thinkers from 90 countries including 68 Nobel prize recipients. The institute organized 70 international conferences organized and published over 1,000 publications in medical and scientific journals.
Click here for More information on the Institute of life
