20 • BrainMatters • Fall/Winter 2024
The Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health & Wellness (the Kimel Centre),
is where people age 50+ prioritize their brain health. A personal
assessment determines individual risks for developing dementia.
Members are then "prescribed" a wellness and lifestyle plan to help
reduce specific risk factors.
This is a unique and remarkable undertaking that will clarify just how
lifestyle choices affect whether people develop dementia. Here's how
it works:
• New members take part in a thorough assessment that includes
simple genetic and memory tests, blood work, and details of chronic
health conditions, general health, lifestyle, muscle mass, and physical
fitness levels. Gut health and brain health are closely linked, so we
also get a baseline of their gut microbiome. Members are assessed
every year.
• Each member receives a personalized plan based on their individual
needs and participates in programs such as fitness and aquatics;
lectures and continuing education; mind, body, and soul wellness;
performing arts; nutrition and cooking; fine arts and crafts; events,
games, and social clubs.
• Members with a high risk of developing dementia receive enriched
programming tailored especially for them.
• All programming promotes social engagement, as loneliness is a
known risk for cognitive decline.
Over time we'll learn just how much lifestyle choices can help reduce
dementia. What we learn will save lives.
"The Kimel Centre is a remarkable undertaking and the direct result
of the forward vision of our staff and donors. Members are making
major personal health decisions to reduce their dementia risk and
helping us learn how much lifestyle changes can help reduce the onset
of dementia. These include the most recent modifiable lifestyle risk
factors, published in 2024 by The Lancet
1
— treating vision loss, and
managing high LDL cholesterol levels. This This is an exciting new
chapter in the fight against dementia," says Dr. Howard Chertkow, the
Kimel Centre's director.
THE KIMEL FAMILY CENTRE
FOR BRAIN HEALTH &
WELLNESS: CHANGING LIVES
THROUGH LIFESTYLE CHOICES
1
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01296-0/abstract
