Valley seniors are flexing their mental muscles

Published 9:41 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

As Jack Posey, 78, joins his friends Jim Landers and Elynor Walker for memory activities at Mount Si Senior Center, his wife, Sharon Posey, joins her friends in the center’s thrift shop for a few hours of free time.

The Poseys benefit from a program at the senior center meant to help adults dealing with memory loss, as well as providing their caregivers some time to themselves.

“We call it the Wednesday Club,” said center director Ruth Tolmasoff.

The creative program, run by Sno Valley Adult Day Health Care and the Mount Si Senior Center, takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

The program is meant to help seniors with dementia or Alzheimer’s, those recovering from stroke or physical impairment, or those who are just lonesome and need companionship.

Seniors take part in low-impact exercises, share memories and do memory games. In honor of Cinco de Mayo, for example, activities coordinator Jackie Maxwell had participants list Mexican foods as a way of flexing their mental muscles. When they started sharing stories from too far off the subject, Maxwell steered them back.

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