Friday, April 25, 2008:- It's a disease that slowly damages the brain, robbing a person of brain function and memory.

Alzheimer's is a progressive disease -- medications can help, but only show modest improvement.

A Calgary company has designed a brain fitness program for seniors experiencing memory loss due to Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.

At 78, Lucille Neyron is fully aware of her memory loss.

"I've talked myself into not being worried about it, it gives me nothing to be frustrated, if I forgot, I forgot," she says.

But she's hoping, that by exercising her brain, she'll forget less often.

With the help of a good friend, familiar words, numbers and puzzles challenge Lucille and jog her memory.

"They target the program, as close as they can, to the history of the client. So Lucille was a teacher, the questions are tailored to that, as opposed to construction or something like that," says Kathleen O'Halloran, the general manager of the Fountains of Mission Senior Residence.

The program is called the Ashby Memory Method, named after its founder John Ashby.

He says work with the brain injured shows the brain can re-train itself to work around it's deficits.

In Alzheimer's disease, vital brain cells die as plaque builds up. He says patients don't actually lose their memories, they just have a hard time retrieving them.

"Literally they can't connect the dots. So really, what we're doing is reinforcing the natural pathways that connect information together. We're not teaching new information, we're just helping the brain along in finding the information," says Ashby, a certified senior advisor.

A study conducted by the company showed a 12-14% improvement in memory test scores among 50 patients.

The results are even surprising some doctors.

"The doctor saw the score change dramatically, he actually called the daughter into the office and said, "What are you doing with your Dad? Are you putting vitamins in his corn flakes? He's really improved quite a bit," "says Ashby.

Lucille has just started the program. In her case, it's too early to tell if it's having any effect. But, she's hopeful memory exercises, can preserve the memory she has left.

To learn more, you can phone the Alzheimer's Innovation Institute at 455-7127 or 1-877-300-8988.

You can also log on to [www.alzinnovation.com]