News & Media

Ms. Bradley Goes to Washington

April 6, 2016 (Washington, DC) – Polly Bradley, Director of Adult Day Services, was invited by Senator Susan Collins to testify on the importance of adult day services and caregiver support before the Senate Special Committee on Aging in early April. The hearing entitled: Finding a Cure: Assessing the Progress Toward the Goal of Ending Alzheimer’s by 2025, included three other witnesses: Dr. Ronald Petersen, Chair of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care and Services; David Hyde Pierce, award winning actor, advocate and former member of NAPA’s Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care and Services and Lisa Baron, Executive Director, Memory Home Care Solutions.

In her remarks, Polly described SMAA’s state of the art programming as well as our innovative day centers, the Stewart Center in Falmouth and the Sam L. Cohen Center in Biddeford. She also shared her family’s story of caring for her father, Tim Stewart, who suffered with Frontal Lobe Dementia for several years and passed away in December, 2015.

Excerpts from Polly’s Senate Testimony
Every design detail, from the colors to textures to lighting was based on the latest research on what is best for the member. Our experiences as well as many research studies demonstrate that social interaction and activity helps maintain physical and emotional health as well as maintaining cognitive function.

Family caregivers tell us that their loved ones are happier. They come home from our Centers eager to talk about their day. They refer to our Centers as their club which makes them eager to return. 

…our program extends to our caregivers because we know that it can be a lonely and depressing journey. Our caregivers are spouses, adult children, grandchildren among others who desperately want their loved ones to stay home. 

It’s staggering to know that every 67 seconds someone in the US develops Alzheimer’s. Until we find a cure, it’s comforting to know that centers like the Sam L. Cohen Center and the Stewart Center are here to help.

About the Southern Maine Agency on Aging
Since 1973, the Southern Maine Agency on Aging has provided residents of York and Cumberland counties with resources and assistance to address the issues and concerns of aging. The Agency serves people ages 60 and older, family caregivers, and people under 60 with a disability. Agency services are devoted to fulfilling its mission of improving the social, emotional, physical and economic well-being of older adults in southern Maine.