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Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Must-See Documentary on Dementia, Alzheimer’s Comes
to Public TV
There is a Bridge reveals how to
communicate with victims; begins Sept. 1
 Aug. 15, 2007 – A “must-see” documentary for those
touched by dementia or Alzheimer’s disease is coming to public
television stations beginning September 1. There is a Bridge
explores different ways of communicating successfully with those who
have dementia and how these emotionally profound relationships can
change our lives.
With more than 5 million Americans affected by
Alzheimer's disease today, and that number rapidly growing as Baby
Boomers age, this new documentary, challenges conventional notions of
people with Alzheimer's as "unreachable" and this disease as "the first
of two deaths."
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Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health |
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The show features interviews with preeminent
thinkers and poignant footage of family members, care partners, and
schoolchildren building emotionally rich relationships with people with
dementia. It shows how this illuminates depths of memory and personal
identity not erased by Alzheimer's disease.
Hosted by former United States Poet Laureate Robert
Pinsky, There is a Bridge explores the deep, complex nature of
human solidarity by weaving together mental health, psychology, art,
philosophy and education to highlight individuals and path-breaking
programs reaching out to elders affected by Alzheimer's.
Many mistakenly associate the diminishment of
memory with the loss of self. However, no degree of dementia deprives
people of the need for human contact, as this documentary reveals.
"Today, growing awareness about the remaining
capacities of severely disoriented seniors is inspiring us to
communicate with them on more meaningful terms, regardless of their
cognitive impairment," notes Michael Verde, founder and president of
Memory Bridge: Foundation for Alzheimer's and Cultural Memory.
He adds, "This approach to listening, learning, and
loving offers families and friends of people with dementia a way to stay
connected to people with dementia until the very end of their lives." By
staying connected with loved ones, Verde explains, we stay connected
with significant parts of ourselves. "People with dementia," he says,
"can remind us of aspects of our own humanity that we are forgetting."
Josh Dorman, a nationally recognized artist,
explores in his paintings the rich internal world of elderly people with
advanced dementia. Dorman's work attempts to capture in color, symbol,
and line the inner lives of five seniors in the later stages of
Alzheimer's disease. His visually and emotionally arresting paintings
reveal our need to learn the art of listening.
There is a Bridge illustrates how anyone,
with love and patience, can bridge the communication gap with an
Alzheimer's sufferer. The film captures astonishing interactions from a
trailblazing program that pairs junior high and high school students
with elderly residents in Chicago's long-term care facilities.
Another segment captures a series of profound
exchanges between friends and family and elders suffering from varying
degrees of dementia.
In one of the film's most moving and memorable
moments, 87-year-old Gladys Wilson and Naomi Feil, an internationally
renowned expert in reaching people with Alzheimer's disease (she founded
Validation Therapy), have a dramatic breakthrough brought about by
compassionate touch, behavioral mirroring, and a deep connection between
patient and practitioner.
Other segments highlight the experiences of Blas
Ortiz, a former opera singer who continues to communicate through the
language of music; Southern belle Lula Pearl Jackson, who comes
mirthfully alive when asked about Kentucky, racehorses, and her male
suitors; and teenagers who ask animated 90- year-olds about their former
boyfriends and spouses.
In a stirring close, Robert Pinsky reads from his
translation of a Dante poem about those dimensions of identity that
persist beyond the loss of memory.
The film features the song "Silent House" by The
Dixie Chicks. The ballad, from their double platinum album from 2006,
Taking the Long Way, celebrates how the power of love's memory can
triumph over the destructive impact of Alzheimer's disease.
Produced in 2007 by Michael Verde, founder and
president of Memory Bridge: Foundation for Alzheimer's and Cultural
Memory, and directed by Ted Kay, There is a Bridge is supplied by
TMK Productions and presented by American Public Television through the
Exchange service at no cost to public television stations nationwide.
There is a Bridge is also available on DVD
for $34.95 plus $4.00 shipping and handling. To order, call:
888-616-6767, or order online at:
www.memorybridge.org.
See dramatic short video clips on the Website -
www.memorybridge.org.
>>
Click here to find stations listing for your area.
About American Public Television:
For 45 years, American Public Television (APT)
has been a prime source of programming for the nation's public
television stations. APT distributes more than 300 new program titles
per year and has 10,000 hours of programming in its library. It is
responsible for many public television milestones including the first HD
series and the 2006 launch of the Create channel featuring the best of
public television's lifestyle programming. APT is known for its
leadership in identifying innovative, worthwhile and viewer-friendly
programming. It has established a tradition of providing public
television stations with program choices that strengthen and customize
their schedules, such as JFK: Breaking the News, Battlefield Britain,
Globe Trekker, Rick Steves' Europe, Great Museums, Jacques Pepin: Fast
Food My Way, America's Test Kitchen From Cook's Illustrated, Broadway:
The Golden Age, Lidia's Family Table, California Dreamin' - The Songs of
The Mamas & the Papas, Rosemary and Thyme, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home,
The Big Comfy Couch, Monarchy With David Starkey, and other prominent
documentaries, dramatic series, how-to programs and classic movies. For
more information about APT's programs and services, visit
http://www.aptonline.org/.
About Memory Bridge: Foundation for Alzheimer's
and Cultural Memory:
Everyone, regardless of their degree of mental
sharpness, needs companionship, not only to physically survive but also
to live emotionally. Memory Bridge creates programs that connect people
with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias to family, friends, and
other people in their local community. We also create programs that
reveal to the general public the depths of memory that dementia does not
erase. Our goal is to create a global community of people who are
learning to listen to people with dementia for what they have to teach
us about our own humanity.
Since 2004, Memory Bridge has created an
interview guide used by the Library of Congress Veteran's History
Project; launched an art exhibit called Mapping Lives: the Art of
Listening; designed and implemented an award-winning curriculum and
school program called the Memory Bridge Initiative; and produced the
documentary There is a Bridge.
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