Love Conquers Alz – Podcast Interview of our founder Alban Maino by Susie Carter and Don Priess
Link to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/728654/10517620
Here is the transcript of the show:
Don Priess:
When the world has gotcha down, and Alzheimer’s sucks. It’s an equal opportunity disease that chips away at everything we hold dear. And to date, there’s no cure. So until there is we continue to fight with the most powerful tool in our arsenal. Love. This is Love Conquers Alz. A real and really positive podcast that takes a deep dive into everything. Alzheimer’s, The Good, the Bad, and everything in between. And now, here are your hosts Susie Singer Carter, and me, Don Priess.
Susie Singer Carter:
Hello, everybody. I’m Susie Singer Carter.
Don Priess:
And I’m Don Priess. And this is Love Conquers Alz. Hello, Susan.
Susie Singer Carter:
Howdy, Don. How’s it going?
Don Priess:
It’s going great. It’s a lovely Saturday morning. It’s about 72 degrees outside. What could what there can be no problems Correct. Susan?
Susie Singer Carter:
Yeah, exactly. Can be zero problems? Zero, none.
Don Priess:
Life is grand.
Susie Singer Carter:
It’s just that simple. Simple. Just like that. Perfect. Well, um, no.Well, let’s see what’s exciting. Let’s talk about something good for a change. Um, anything?
Don Priess:
Let’s see. Hmmmm. Let me think… Nope. I’m blank.
Susie Singer Carter:
I’ll tell you something good..
Don Priess:
Let’s see. Yeah…
Susie Singer Carter:
I can tell you. Yeah, I could tell you.
Don Priess:
Go ahead.
Susie Singer Carter:
Um, alright, so for a really long time. And you know this for a fact. I have been espousing the the absolute need… Like there’s there’s such an such a missing pocket of content for people that are have dementia and Alzheimer’s and all those kinds of, you know, that anything with memory loss and, or any kind of degenerative disease for that matter. And aging in general. There’s zero content created for that. And I’ve been saying that and espousing it and saying, We have it for children. We have it for tweens, we have it for adults, we don’t have it for somebody who’s a different cognitive levels. Why? Why is that? I’m really asking you why. No, you’re right,
Don Priess:
Whatever. And then, and so it’s like…
Susie Singer Carter:
It’s like Logan’s Run. It’s like Logan’s Run.
Don Priess:
Well, there? Well, I think the reason is, is there’s a devaluation of once you get past a certain age or, or you’re, you’re in a certain state, we start devaluing the human. Yeah, if you’re over 30, you’re done, you know. But I think that I think that’s it. And, you know, also, it’s like, well, where’s the money in it all those, there’s all these, you know, that that the as we know, the dollar drives everything, it’s hard, especially when writing content.
Susie Singer Carter:
And don’t both you and I know that we created a pilot for, for Fox that we were we were hired to write because they wanted me to write something based on my life. And so we came up with a project called Silver Linings, which was about this woman, young woman who literally was scared to death of getting older, and, and winds up running, managing this very posh senior center called Silver Linings, because there was a lot of money to be made. And, you know, we saw, despite her her disdain for the elderly, she can’t couldn’t help but find the value, like you said, in these relationships that she began to, to form. And, and the arc was that, you know, she would she would, she would learn to embrace what life is what life is really. So. And everyone loved the pilot, and nobody bought it because it had that dirty word old in it. Right? Yeah. And everybody and it was funny, and it was irreverent. And it was based on all truth. And so, our guests today is making a huge change in that and I was so excited because Judy Cornish, a good friend of mine in the in our community introduced us and said, I know somebody that’s doing that, because I was like, bitching, like I do about where’s all the where’s the content? Why is why why can’t we just try to to keep people who still have cognitive ability engaged, so they just don’t drift away. Anyway.
Don Priess:
Yeah.
Susie Singer Carter:
Tell our audience about who’s here today.
Don Priess:
I will! I do we have a wonderful guest today, Alban Maino is a Franco American filmmaker and successful documentary producer. Over the years he developed a passion for Integrative Health, bringing conventional and complementary approaches together to care for the whole person. And Alban used his passion and his expertise in film production as a tool to help improve the conditions of patients in palliative care, a medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life, and mitigating suffering among those with serious complex illnesses. All this led to the launch of Memory Lane TV, the very first streaming platform for people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s, a therapeutic non pharmaceutical approach, utilizing interactive multi sensory stimulation. It’s a truly fascinating and invaluable venture. And we’re so lucky to have him with us today to find out more. So let’s say hello to Alban Maino. Hello Alban.
Alban Maino:
Well, thank you, Don. Welcome. Alban. Thank you, Susie, thank you very much for having me on your show. And whoever is out there, “Hello. Bon Jour”.
Susie Singer Carter:
I love it. Gosh, I’m so excited. We’ve we did it and and I’m so happy to have you here and you’re you’re a hero for for championing this kind of major endeavor. It’s major and and more than that, Alban, it’s, I mean, just getting to explore your this, this Memory Lane TV is just, it’s so first of all fascinating, compelling, it’s got so much more than I even thought I mean, I can’t wait to have you describe what goes on there. What goes on there? Because it is it is unbelievable. What brought you to this mission.
Alban Maino:
Well, you know, like most, like most good Social Impact mission in general, they all always are driven by personal experience. So, as Don was was explaining, I’m a filmmaker, photographer, a visual storyteller, by essence, that’s what I’ve done from France for many years. And but I’ve always had a passion for palliative care and end of life and essentially for disease that had no cure. And when my grandmother who is probably I mean, who was one of the most important, if not the most important woman in my life, was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. I was like, certain that I could help as her grandson, and she was someone who loved to dance and sing. She was always positive, she was the most generous woman anyway, we all have one person like that in our life. And I thought just like what you were saying, Susie, I was, uh, you know, I put my hat of filmmaker on. And I started selecting her favorite, you know, music and we danced, and we started to interact. And as the disease progress there was just like, well, we need something more, we need exactly what you were describing. And to me, there was no question because I was familiar with the pathology. So there was no question that it existed. I was just like, there’s a television for dog. Right? You know about Dog TV? Great TV.
Susie Singer Carter:
Yup.
Alban Maino:
For my grandmother, of course, there’s one. So I started looking left and right. And talking to professionals. There was nothing and I couldn’t understand it, you know, I looked all around the world. So it’s just like, wow, this, this is, this is what I need to be doing. So this was the inception of the beginning of memory lane. And that was almost nine years ago. Now. It was infantry. So Sam does a priesthood to get to where we are. I’ll tell you a little bit of that adventure. But what was originally just a concept, an idea to help her really quickly turned out into something much more, and has evolved 10 years later, in a really complete multi sensory intervention where we engage all the senses. And when we use visual stimulation, auditory, and we make it person centered, we focus on the story of the people who are using it. And we’re making it not only something that is so important in the care ecosystem for the end users, and the people who are, you know, all of us are suffering from memory loss, but also for our care partners, our loved ones, our grandsons, our sons, our partners for everybody. So yeah, that’s how it started.
Susie Singer Carter:
It’s so it’s so freaking exciting. It’s so exciting to me. I mean, even my mum who’s in hospice now and, and, you know, hospice, I now have, obviously a better understanding of it, because it can be two days to six months to a year, whatever it is, so there’s still life being lived. And so that, you know, how do we make every part of life quality? How do we make it you know, how do ya otherwise why are we why are we kept alive, right? So I And that’s what I keep trying to, to, to communicate to everyone, every day. This is a human being.. She looks like an old lady, but she’s not inside there she is my mom. And she’s like your grandma, a bon vivant, outrageous, loving, loves life, and even lying there on her bed, I can make her laugh. And she will say I love you.
Alban Maino:
Yes. You know, that resonates so much. What you’re saying Susie is specifically… Actually, you know, I’ve been working for the past few months on a project that started 30 years ago, based on a poem that was found, we don’t know who wrote it called. And it’s popular in our world, maybe you’ve heard of it, it’s called, “Do You See Me?” And it’s this old poem that was found after the departure of a woman in nursing home, who says, you know, I might look really grouchy, and aggressive and combative all the time. And you think that I’m just this old person in a wheelchair, but I’ve had a life, I’ve had a wonderful life, I’ve had children, I’ve had extraordinary I went through all so much in 80 years, and we have a tendency to push aside and I, you know, some of of that quality that people have, and, and my hope is that what we’ve done with all the people, and the good folks who have helped me over the years with Memory Lane, is to help resurrect one of that by relating into something very simple, very grounded, which is to be present in the present moment, like to breathe, to help to dream, you know, originally the first concept of my plot free, because there is no plot and memory and there is a plot, but it’s not character driven. You know, Susie, I loved your film, it was such… that’s how we met. That’s how we met because there’s
Susie Singer Carter:
Yes!
Alban Maino:
Exactly what I’m talking about. But –
Susie Singer Carter:
Awww… thank you, thank you, thank you.
Alban Maino:
that’s different levels of dementia cannot follow that plot or not for a very long time. You know, they can as they want to be in that moment. So I’ve we’ve created different forms of content, where you can actually follow a plot, but it’s not character driven, it can be a cloud, it can be a moment in time. And we’ve measured that through, you know, being in the field and realizing how long people can stay in front can stay, engage, can interact. And also realize that the needs were different. You don’t dream in the same way. In the morning, when you wake up, we all feel the same in the afternoon, right before lunch, when you need to stay on art where, where people are incentivized to eat or when you’re suffering from a panic attack, and you’re very anxious and you’re tired, because in the end of the day, so this is this is really at the epicenter of what we’re doing is like, really, our needs are human beings are different. But it is very important that we stay grounded in the present with everyone around us. And it’s true for people who are it’s true for us, but it’s even more true for people who are suffering from memory loss, you know, we they need to think they need to… it’s to see and listen and be alive in that moment. And we can help we really can help.
Susie Singer Carter:
Yeah. And they, yeah, need time to to process. You know what I mean? Like, like, there’s, like, you have 50 years of sci— of like research behind this, which is like, amazing. And, and, you know, I think everybody as we as none of us come in with like a handbook of what how to deal with memory loss and, and dimension, all the different kinds of it. And, you know, I mean, I think I was blown away when I first started to volunteer. And I learned that it takes at least 20 seconds for someone with dementia to process a question. And most of us don’t know how long 20 seconds is. And most of us just assume the person isn’t isn’t you know, responding.
Alban Maino:
You’re right and an auditory and visual perceptions are so different. Teepa Snow, for example, has so many good videos, where she explains and where you can actually now we even have VR, you know, representation of this is how it looks like, you might think that you’re touching things in the air, but no, it’s like, because of visual perceptions. You don’t know where the floor is, you don’t hear things as well. So it’s really hard to put yourself in there. And you said something very important, Susie, I, I put those things together. Don mentioned, I’m a film producer. And what I’ve learned through my career is that I don’t know how to do anything except identifying the expertise and the experience. And on the film set, for example, you know, to me, the gaffer is just as important as the executive producer as the film director. And if you don’t have every single one of them, you don’t have a film you know, if you don’t have sounds forget about if you don’t have a camera if you don’t have gaffer, you know, you don’t have coffee, you don’t have any. So in that sense, Memory Lane, I didn’t invent anything. Basically 50 years of science, Oliver Sacks in the beginning of the 70s, you know, described in Musicophilia, you know, his work with patients who had dementia at the time, and the importance of music, Michael Rossato-Bennet since one of our friends you know, and who won an award for “A Light Inside”, describe what a music illumination is, you know, and how important music to stays triggered decades of research in cognitive stimulation in olfactory stimulation, we know that this is the direct pathway to the brain, all those tools, all those tools are part of what we can do to really enhance the quality of life for everybody. And the last the last element, I think, that is so crucial. And you mentioned it also, Susie is the caregiver and the part care partner and the education, like, we don’t know what’s hitting us, right? We don’t know what’s hitting us when we get older. And, and the first time that we’re representing it is with our parents, you know, we see we’re aging, and we see them aging, we want them to be young, they’re not they’re like that anymore. And we want to communicate so and if unfortunately, they’re affected by one of those, the you know, memory loss or dementia or Alzheimer’s, horrible. It’s really hard to diagnose any of it. How do you how do you make this a positive experience? And I think I have found a way to make it a good I mean, in my personal experience, I and this is the message, right? If you can trigger a way to transform, what is dramatic experience into something positive, then you you’re golden. So in other words, (yes), find the one find,( yes, yes). Find the image, yes, use it, find the moment and then that trigger can be reproduced as many times as you want.
Don Priess:
This is where what you’re doing is so, so important, because from the time Susie’s mom has been in the care facility she’s been in, we would walk in, and we’d see a group of all the, you know, all the residents there. And they’ve got a TV on and they’re playing Oh, I don’t know, an old movie, they’re playing singing in the rain. That’s great. It’s something that might, you know, somebody might enjoy. But that’s, that’s not made. For for them. That’s, that doesn’t tap into the things that you’re talking about. They’re,. so they’re just sitting there kind of staring lethargically at this movement and sound in front of them. And Susie said from she goes, Oh my God, why she said this, you know what, why isn’t there something for them? Why, you know, and it’s not this, and it’s great. It’s better than staring at a blank wall. But it’s certainly not what’s going to stimulate those memories and those senses, like what you’re doing now. So what you’re doing is it’s it’s incredibly important. And as you’ve seen, there are results from that.
Alban Maino:
Yes, we know, we’ve studied it for over six years with over 1000 people in different types of setting, whether it’s early onset, you know, diagnosed with the disease, or much more advanced, and what you’re saying Don is so crucial. In order also to appeal to everybody, it has to be person centered. We all have our history, it taps on when we were saying before, right? So if you were born in 1940, on the coast of California, or Maine and you had a, I don’t know, a golden retriever, and specific memories, then those will resonate with you. And the way memory works, which is fascinating. We can create and recreate memories that we haven’t lived. This is you know how dreams works as well, we thinks we’ve lived them. So by pushing the content by personalizing and customizing and this is what we do with memory lane. By the way, one of the first thing you do when you register on our platform is you fill out a life survey a questionnaire very simple, very quick. 10-15 minutes you do that with your loved ones. And and we we get to learn about who you are, you know, and what resonates with you what era what decade what’s your favorite song? What’s your favorite genre of music? And this way, you don’t have what you were describing Don, that disconnection and because also we’re not giving you a linear plot to follow that you after three minutes, you’re totally done. You actually get engaged and one minute it’s a butterfly another minute is it’s a song. And we we’ve noticed also that, you know, the attention span to watch television is about 26 minutes if we were very precise. So our sessions, our dream scene sessions last 26 minutes and of course I want to end The size, this is so important. Our goal is not to put people on television, we want to get them away from other screens, we want to be able to put people in the garden in the forest. But the reality is different. This is a primary tool that we have here, and we are not using it. Well, to your point on, we have to use it differently for that demographic, specifically, and we cannot use it all the time. But we can use it 2,3,4 times a day. At moment, we’re really we need a new tool and not a pharmacological tool. Who by the way, don’t work or take a long time. You know, someone has a panic attack, my mother always thought I was a magician says, How do you do this? No, she’s got she’s breathing hard. And should we call 911? No, you redirect the attention. How do you do this? Well, just like you would do with your five year old kid, right? He falls and he hurts and he screams that Oh, my dad said no, I’m looking at butterflies are what that. And to a certain degree, we can do that with every single one of us. It’s it’s not brain science. And people professionals use it all the time, redirecting attention can be learned. And you can do that. If you’re grounded in the present moment with music with media, and and all of a sudden, you know, the sundowning syndrome, maybe some of your audience probably are well aware of that symptoms that happens towards the end of the day, that creates a lot of anxiety and stress, we don’t really know where it’s coming from, it’s, it’s because of the shift the tiredness of the day. But this is really hard. It’s a really hard moment to manage. And so we have specific film for that towards the end of the day, that follow a specific arc, right, we create a cinematic environment, we take them in a journey. And And slowly we redirect their attention to a quieter a peaceful place. And we enhance that with different sensations by stimulating different senses. adapting it specifically to that moment. So and that’s good for everybody. You know, it’s good for the caregiver,
Susie Singer Carter:
Everybody. Everybody. You’re so right, Alban, because I always say like, it’s like, you know, our life, especially with dementia, people with dementia in particular. It’s like Benjamin Button. So, you know, we we’re, we’re going backwards out the door, and and we’re losing cognitive skills, but we’re not losing all our skills. So all the senses, you know, remain intact for a lot. Hopefully, we don’t know how long I mean, I don’t know, I still put flowers under my mom’s nose and go, I know that she loves gardenias. And I go, mom smell this I brought I bring because Jasmine was in season, you know, just in March. So it’s like, I filled the room with jasmine and, and it’s just I know that that would that’s going to make her feel good. It’s going to it’s going to conjure up good, good, good endorphins, right. And, and I think with babies, it’s the same way. You know, we don’t, we don’t get we get that they’re, it’s difficult with babies, they throw up on you, you have to change their diaper. They don’t talk, it’s a lot of work. And but we love them. And we we we invest our time in them and we, we we speak to them at the level that they’re at, we don’t expect more than the level that they’re at. We don’t say, Come on, you’ve got two legs walk. And they’re six months old. Right? So if somebody is 89 and they’re and they are you know, immobile we don’t we can’t get frustrated we have to say this is where they’re at. And I tell my mom all the time good job mom you swallowed so well just now. Good job you swallowed and I’m good I get excited because she swallows good without choking and I make and I’m very happy about that those are the little things
Alban Maino:
And you know everything you’re describing Susie is resonates so close to home but what are your experience and your knowledge from that field? It seems natural but it’s not that’s that’s why one of the things that we’ve done also in Memory Lane was what I call the caregiver the care partner channel. So we’ve gathered a lot of the best tips in the world from the best care partners deepest was one of them but yet I mean lots of yes I love her are doing great work and and we need to know we need to know exactly how to do how to behave. What are what’s going on here. And that’s crucial because we’re talking about multi sensory, okay, so we understand the visual, we understand the auditory, the music, the soundscapes you just touched upon, what posts do the French author Proust? Proust? Marcel Proust?
Susie Singer Carter:
Yes, of course. Yes.
Alban Maino:
When you describe when we refer in France I don’t know if it’s American expression but Madeleine de Proust? A Madeleine is that that little cookie and
Susie Singer Carter:
Yes! I made a Madeleine. But she’s a, she’s a girl I made. I have a daughter, I have a daughter. Yes, this
Alban Maino:
My niece is Madeline. It’s a beautiful name. But in French, when we refer to Madeleine de Proust, it refers to a passage a four page passage in “Du côté de chez Swann”,, in one of his books where he describes how you relived an emotion from his childhood from where when his grandmother was making those little cookies, and just by the scent of the cookies, instantly, he was transported. And we’ve all had that deja vu, deja vu, you know, sort of experience through the direct pathway to the brain and the olfactory stimulation. And this is so powerful. And so this is one of the way we do it. But we wouldn’t be able to do it if we don’t do this with the care partner either. Right? So the caregiver, when we talk about touch, for example, or swallowing, you were just mentioning, you know, the smell. Yeah, so this is obviously not provided with Memory Lane, but we can educate the caregiver. And this is how you do it. This is how you touch someone, or you don’t touch someone, what are the boundaries? I didn’t know anything about this until you embark on this journey. And and I would have, I would have had so much, it would have been much faster if everything was easily accessible. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of resources out there. But where do you find them? How do you access them? And how do you make them digestible. And I think one of the greatest thing that chance that we have, I mean, my vision was not implementable eight years ago when I started because of technology. And you know, unfortunately, it’s COVID. Now everybody’s getting familiar with all the technology we’re on today. But big thanks to Google, Amazon, and you know, Apple, and all those big players out there, they’ve given us small producers, or creators or storyteller, the ability to deliver through a pipeline that, so anyone who has a Roku and Apple TV, or tablet, or Smart TV in their living room, which is most of us can access that now. You know, we don’t need to be a big network broadcaster, this is what has transformed our industry over the past 10-15 years. And it’s happening also healthcare. And I want to I want to say something about what Don mentioned earlier on, that struck me, you know, when I was saying, you know, there’s a television for dog, and there’s not a television for mom, and I said, well, this project, I’m going to be able to finance it, because it’s so important, I don’t care if it’s not for profit or, but it’s so important that it’s going to be a no brainer. And it was really hard. And it still is, and I couldn’t understand why but Don pointed it out, you know, there is not much money, you cannot sell much to those people there is you know, unless you’re a nursing home, and you want to help them by providing them shelter, there are not into our consumerism, you know, environment. So it’s really hard. It’s not an app for this Gen Z generation, it really takes people who really want to do good to help out. So this is one of my shout out today. It’s like we need every single one of you, every people from everywhere, people in the media, who understand the importance of storytelling, the importance of what we do, you know, people in Hollywood where you are, I’ve never been, come on help. Let’s let’s get this Help us out. Let me let me throw out a statistic that might be might become, you know, compelling to our our gatekeepers in Hollywood is that there’s 53 million caregivers in America. And and that’s a lot, that’s a lot of people and we and all of us, every single one of us could use this. It’s not just for them, it’s for all of us, it’s for the whole community that that is that takes part in caregiving, whether you’re a care receiver or a caregiver, so this it’s important for all of us and we we need products too. And they and there are and you know so if you want to talk bottom line and you know on an economic level there’s plenty money to be made,
Don Priess:
Plently of room for sponsorship
Susie Singer Carter:
Definitely.
Don Priess:
There’s and you know, those things, you know, the dollar the dollar talks and the dollars drives everything. And there’s nothing wrong with bringing in income to help support something like this through sponsorship you know, there’s there’s ways to make it work all the way around.
Alban Maino:
As a matter of fact, when I started this i i was really debating what’s the best way to make it available. My vision was always okay, a lot of the pain points a lot of the people are people like us who 80% That’s another important element. 80% of the people that are suffering from early onset dementia or dementia are staying at home. You know, the nursing home is The last platform, and there’s there’s a lot of help in nursing home. There’s a lot of tools when you’re at home, you don’t. And I was like, how do we make this available for free. And I was really lucky to win an accelerator program up in Boston when I arrived. And everyone says, No, you cannot go through the not for profit route, because you need to have something that is sustainable. And, and that will last forever. And this is, and also, you know, this can, can be globally, it’s not only the 53 million American caregiver, it’s like global
Susie Singer Carter:
Of course, no.
Alban Maino:
…because it’s character driven, there is no voiceover except for a few storytime. And, and, and I called my friends, I worked with Dr. Without Borders for many years. And I said, Okay, I don’t know what to do with this. This is well think outside of the box, just like Don was saying, maybe there’s, there’s a donor out there that will say, I want to make this available for everybody. And this is going to be my legacy to the world, you know, or maybe there’s sponsorships for big companies that we say they don’t need to pay for it. Because we don’t want to add to the burden of caregivers who are already at home and struggling to say, Okay, I mean, so I made I made the Memory Lane available enough so we can put the lights on, you know, so it’s a very cheap subscription.
Susie Singer Carter:
It is so economical. We believe. It’s so reasonable, Don, and I were like, Oh my God. I mean, it is it’s like less than a cup of coffee, you know, a day. I mean, it really is. I’m not saying that as a sales tool.
Don Priess:
Nowadays, a coffee a day. Yeah. I mean, not a day a cup of coffee for the whole month. Well, it’s it’s one coffee for the whole month.
Susie Singer Carter:
Yeah.Yeah.Yeah.Yeah.Yeah.
Alban Maino:
Susie, we did this because of people like you, because of content provider who have given me a lot of content. You know who the filmmaker is around the world who also have been touched by this and this and will help you album, we know we don’t have any money for licensing, you know, you need a lot. And another things that we just launched about a month ago, is a soap just so that people understand, you know, it’s an application just like Netflix, you download it, and you can select your programs and categories and all. But we added another dimension, a linear channel, a 24/7. So if you don’t have time to select, or to go to your watch list, you can just play on it. And it’s linear all the time. So we have there is over 50 hours of content behind that I could never afford. And I still need more hello people in Hollywood. We need more content.
Susie Singer Carter:
Yes. Yes, we do people.
Alban Maino:
Yeah, come on. And
Susie Singer Carter:
We need Sesame Street. I don’t mean that in a bad way. But we need Sesame Street. Right?.
Alban Maino:
Bob Ross for example, the Bob Ross Foundation gave me a lot of their content. You know, he has such a soothing voice of cooking shows, we have nature relaxer, David Harding. Kudos to my friend David out there who provided me with lots of hours of content for nature, relaxation. And the story goes on and on. This is how I was able to do it. Because a lot of people have helped me out and says I want you in for the good thing. We’re going to help you out. But the story is not over. Now we’re available everywhere. Everybody can access Memory Lane. The next stage is for me to get that everywhere. So thanks to you, you Don and Susie, for helping me get that word out. Because that’s the next day, the stage is we want a lot of people are using it so that all our friends will say hey, we’re going to help them out.
Susie Singer Carter:
And honestly, you were talking about, you know, people being at home for a good deal of the time it went you know, when they get when they’re first diagnosed with any kind of cognitive impairment, but they’re, once you do transition to a nursing home, it can be a very long time. Because, you know, when my mom became incontinent and unable to to walk anymore, you know, it was better for her to be in that environment. Okay, so they absolutely, if you can go to the best, the highest rated the most expensive, assisted living in your loved one, I’m sorry, I’m going to be so blunt is not going to get the attention that they need. They’re going to get their medical attention, they’ll bill they can stay, they’ll most likely survive physically, but mentally they’re going to just disappear. If you’re if if they have no input and that they will they just will and nobody can survive without touch or talk or communication or socialization or you know, stimulation. So we and honestly
Don Priess:
And COVID prove that COVID proved COVID proved it.
Susie Singer Carter:
It proved it and that’s you know, with minimal and those and those were people even at my mom’s facility, the people that didn’t have memory issues, but were elderly that I happened to…. they were my friends, you know, they were, I loved them – have passed away because of isolation. So nobody can, you know, animals can’t, little babies, chimpanzees can’t be without their mommies. They they need touch and love and and stimulation. So just to keep that in mind that what a powerful tool this is, when we can’t be there also, because we can’t always be there. And, and it’s so important
Alban Maino:
You know another things that that is that No, first of all, kudos to our healthcare force out there, this is the biggest problem that we’re facing right now, is there’s not enough people in that, to take care of our parents. And what I’m saying our parents is literally our parents, our uncles, and aunts, and husbands and wives, who are in their, you know, they’re not residents, they are our family. And, and what I’ve witnessed, you know, in the field is exactly what you’re saying Susie is, there’s not enough worker out there, the CNAs, the nurses, they have so much work, that they don’t have time to engage. And when you have the luxury or the chance to be in a good facility, and they have yoga teachers or musicians that come not everybody get wheeled, wheeled out to down in the floor, because it takes it takes 10 workers do wheel everybody, so lots, a lot of people are either left behind or cannot even move are staying in their room. And the isolation, the despair of that is so sad, and the only thing that we can do, because we can’t take them outside. Or we can’t take them to a place where they have that kind of support is alright, giving them at least you know, a way to dream through the tools that we have these days. Virtual VR, you know, working with a firm in VR for future, those things we can we can do things like
Susie Singer Carter:
wow, replaced, wow, that sounds exciting.
Don Priess:
And even if they have those offer those you know, the live music, but it’s like once a week, you know, so on Sunday afternoon, they do this thing, it’s what well, there’s six other days and, and 24 other hours, that they’re not that stimulation isn’t there. So for this, you know, it doesn’t replace one on one personal, you know, interaction, but boy, it makes a it’s such a huge, huge difference. And it I wanted to know, is there a difference between the person with dementia or Alzheimer’s watching this on their own? Or watching it with their caregiver? What is the difference? Is there a different effect?
Alban Maino:
Don, you’re pointing something so important and crucial. And at the epicenter of my vision. When I started this, I mentioned the fact that it had to be person centered, customized, and the role and the interaction between the care partner. And the person who’s suffering from memory loss is right at the epicenter of Memory Lane, we wanted to create something that was a new tool to interact. So you could find your mom or your dad or your partner again. So you are watching or using, let’s say, using interactive media to address and improve your quality of life. But you can stop it in the middle and this and you’re anchored in the present moment to describe what’s happening or something that’s and then you interact and you create a new bond. You start talking you don’t talk about Uncle Joe, last week, you don’t remember when he came or what’s happening to him. I already told you five times that it’s happening tomorrow. No, you’re right here, right there. Right now you’re interacting with the program, you stop it, you and and sometimes we even have, you know, making an apple pie. Alright, you’re gonna make the apple pie you we encourage people to bring tools to make an apple, we encourage to bring an apple pie and eat it. You know, it’s not about
Susie Singer Carter:
I love it. I love it!
Alban Maino:
It’s not about watching TV, it’s about interactive, it’s about being altered. So of course, when you need when, when your loved ones are not there, you can still use it and you can still dream and you interact and you can actually follow, you can fall asleep in front of it and wake up and you’re still in it. It’s nothing has happened. You haven’t lost anything. So it’s a good tool for us. Right before lunch. We leave people in the heart up here, like oh, I want to get out of my chair. And I want to have one of those burgers or one of those good fruits that I’ve seen, you know, at the end of the day for sundowning they’re more calm. So you know different tools at different hours of the day. When other symptoms that people are not aware but when you circadian rhythm, the rhythm of the day, day and night is lost to a certain degree when the disease As progresses, you don’t know if it’s three o’clock in the morning or two o’clock in the afternoon. So how do we regulate this? Well, we follow the rhythm of the day with our films as well. So the films are different, you wake up with the bird sounds, you know, one of the things I do when my bird feeder for half an hour and try to meditate, meditation, by the way, is not to look at your Buddha and just sit in quietly, it can be watching a bird, and just looking at the bird for 15 minutes. So, you know, this is what meditation is all about. It’s about emptying your spirit and redirecting attention. So the morning lunches, afternoon occupational therapy sundowning. And at night, when you’re heralding the moon is there Oh, it’s it’s there. It’s the night I understand where we are. And all those tools are very different. So, you know, just to circle back to your original question, Don, yes, it’s a tool that can be used, and that I want to be used by care partners, along with the people that are you that are the end users. And my my next project, and we’re currently developing it is to go even a little further than that, I mentioned that people can just, you know, choose and we push different types of content. But we’re developing an algorithm that will go even further than that. So we’ll allow you to upload your own media, your own photography, your favorite songs, your favorite playlist, and we’re going to create a very specific playlist that will be just for you, Don, just for you and your mother, Susie, and we’ve tried that for three years, that, you know, we’ve done some research with that. And this is the most incredible tool to use the power of cinematic perception. How we can create an environment customized to your own story. Imagine your favorite song, your memory as a child, and you’re all of a sudden you’re gonna share that with your mom. I mean, tears will laughter
Don Priess:
Susie made Susie made this you know, it’s just pictures and videos and music of just you know, the family her past her present you know, the president you know, you’re Yeah, yeah, every from from her as a child all the way up to her her great granddaughter. It’s, you know, little media screen that just sits there and plays for her even so when you know, when, you know, when Susie is not able to be there. That just it’s it’s always she’s always involved in it.
Susie Singer Carter:
And I talked to her on it. I recorded I say Hi, Mom, how you doing? I’m thinking about you. And I’m loving you. And I’m giving you kisses and I’m talking to you, and I’m going to be there soon. And I talked to her, you know, just very simple
Alban Maino:
Yes. Susie – you are Memory Lane.
Susie Singer Carter:
Sounds like what you’re doing well, yeah.
Alban Maino:
We this is what we do. This is when it’s common sense, right? Yeah. Just like I was,
Susie Singer Carter:
Yes, it is.
Alban Maino:
Let’s find Memory Lane. It’s some somewhere out there. It wasn’t. So here we are. Now it is it exists and what you’re saying invented something magical. Of course, you know, we have photography, we have music, and we can personalize it. And it’s a fantastic, fantastic tool. Could I mean you’re, you’re a filmmaker, you’re a great filmmaker, you know how to use the power of imagery, let’s make that available and teach everybody to do those things. You know,
Susie Singer Carter:
I would love that. I think everybody listen, we do it for our children. Let’s do it for our parents and our uncles and our let’s do it. Let’s be there for them. And I’m telling you, I swear I mean, listen, I grew up in Los Angeles, it’s fast and it’s anonymous, and it can be cold here. And and but I have I’ve never gotten so much satisfaction than I have doing this what I’m doing with my mom, this stage is hard, but it’s as hard as it is raising my my babies. And as as rewarding. I get as excited. Like I said, I get as excited about my mom Lee swallowing food as I did my babies swallowing their food I do. And I and I when she smiles it’s as if when my babies smiled to me I’m like, oh my god, she smiled. Did you see that? She smiled.
Alban Maino:
I’m sure there’s a lot of your mom’s energy in you. You know, we talk about reincarnation and all those things and we are the reincarnation of our parents. Right? We are the very proof of reincarnation and the energy that your mom has the energy that my grandmother gave me to do this, she was so positive always. And I knew how to trigger that in her. And she and this was our message as well. You know, it was like, you know life is beautiful every day. You know, everything is possible. Everything is good. So keep up with it. So we need that energy we need to communicate you can decide to see the glass of wine how far off you know, empty. It’s up to us to decide and for Alzheimer’s disease. As I was saying earlier, when you find the right trigger, my goodness, isn’t that fun? You find the right song you find the right joke, you can just do multiply, and you can love yourself with it. You know, it’s fantastic, isn’t it?
Susie Singer Carter:
It’s fantastic. I’m telling you, it is so great, you guys, it’s that simple. Life is really that simple. It really is. And and, you know, it just is there’s nothing better. There’s nothing better, like even when I would go when before COVID. And, you know, as I said, my mom was a singer, we all sing and my daughters and I would come and, you know, listen, I was basically like, Lady Gaga to them. It was like Susie’s here. Come on, like all of the peas, all the 90 year olds were like gathering around, I had my fans, and they and I couldn’t feel more like a rock star. For those those 15 people, or 10 people or five people or two, what doesn’t matter? They they enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it. You know? And it’s it’s really, it’s really that, that it’s really that’s what it’s about at the end of the day. What else do we have? Everything else is borrowed.
Don Priess:
I had one other thought, which that just one i I’m limited as my amount of thoughts I can have. But as we all know that
Susie Singer Carter:
You’re a simple man.
Don Priess:
I am very simple. I’m wondering, is there another benefit to Memory Lane TV, which is for the caregiver themselves? As we all know, caregiving can be devastating as to the health and mental health, physical health of the caregiver? Do you find that when the caregiver watches along with them? Or maybe they just watch it on their own? Is there, ahave you found there’s a defect or a benefit to the caregiver as well?
Alban Maino:
Yes, actually, we’ve studied that as well, to me, I don’t want to say that I developed Memory Lane for the caregiver or the care partner, but essentially, I did, because I knew that that tool needed to be used in combination. And the care partner is ultimately the person that’s going to decide to use this and to be using it and you’re right there us. So there are direct to answer your question very precisely done, direct and indirect benefits. First of all, the caregiver channel that I was mentioning before, you know, a lot of education in there. But we also have specific engagement classes for yoga for meditation. But when you’re looking at some of the films, it acts in the same way, whether you are suffering from memory loss or not. So it does work in the same way. And when your loved one is actually using Memory Lane, 26-30 minutes a day, several times a day, and you know that they’re engaging in a positive way, this is a bit of respite, it’s respite immediately from ICWA, I can do my taxes. Now, that’s any fun, or I can just relax and read my book, you know, or sit right next to it, and then interrupt for a moment. And that decreases the level of anxiety and stress of the care partner just as much. So it affects both it affects, you know, if someone doesn’t have a panic attack, or sundowning is lowered or you help someone falling asleep at night, through the use of olfactory stimulation and lavender or through the use of Pacific films, then you go to sleep earlier, you know, so yes, there are direct benefit for the caregiver, that are that are measurable that have been measured, and not only for the caregivers at home, but also for the people in the field. And you know that CNA and nurses and occupational therapists that were that want to use that as a tool, or that actually have more time because they, you know, I was stunned. When I started this a few years ago, they were like, Oh, my God, you’ve got something to replace the six o’clock news thing. Because it’s hard, especially now, you know, with the war and the COVID. Six, but it’s hard, but everyone wants to be there at six o’clock, because you know, it’s social, what do you put, where is the positive news, that doesn’t generate anxiety, because what they see is what it is, and that’s stressful. So we needed something to replace that. And there it is,
Don Priess:
There’s no way they have enough people to take care of the people they have there. So what they do is they set them in front of a TV and that’s hopefully that, you know, but this, you know, if they’re to as opposed to giving them a sedative, or Depakote or something to calm them down, it’s like, you know, a great nonpharmaceutical alternative to that, that helps.
Susie Singer Carter:
Absolutely.
Don Priess:
That helps the nurses and everything. So they’re not, you know, they can they can do what they need to that they absolutely need to do as opposed to trying to tend to this person because they’re they don’t know what to do or see or anything. So it’s the benefits are multi layered. And wow. So important.
Susie Singer Carter:
Very much so yeah. And also I think I think what I just wanted to say I think as far as you know, engaging the Care… being able to engage with the person that you’re caring for is Oh, great. And, and that’s very much dependent on the kind of content because if you just take Sesame Street as an example, you know, they just had a they there, especially with music they were, they’re just very, you know, sophisticated in terms of of their songwriting and their engagement in that to the point where we as parents, I know every song from, you know, all of their albums, and because they’re all really good, and we, and we sing along to them, and you can’t help it. They’re just, they’re memorable. They’re fun. They’re engaging, and so you want to put that on, you want to click to that for your kid, because you like it, too.
Alban Maino:
Yes. And that is true. But you know, the most popular songs that we all know, are not necessarily and people think, oh, put the music from the 1920s and 30s and 40s. No, they like the Beatles, you know, the next generation, they like to sing songs that are part of our cultural history from 20 years ago, 30 years
Susie Singer Carter:
Definitely
Alban Maino:
They are now 50 years old, you know,
Don Priess:
Yea, exactly, that was their music, too.
Alban Maino:
Right. Totally. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to put that on, I don’t have the licensing of the rights to do that. And we can still I teach people how to do it, I can’t put it because I can’t buy the rights of the Beatles, but you can access them, here’s how you create your own playlists, you know, and to what you were saying referring before I forget Don pharmaceuticals, you know, that’s, that’s a touchy subject, that they’re useful. I’m all about integrative health, you know, if you break your heart, you’re gonna go to the nearest hospital, you’re gonna get a fantastic surgeon, they’re gonna fix you, if you’re in pain, they’re fantastic. In the case of panic attacks, and, and disease that we’re talking about today, the reality of the pharmaceutical is that it takes two to three hours to actually, you know, calm your system or put you to sleep. So when you’re dealing with the symptoms, they don’t do anything. First of all, there’s no cure for that specific disease, but even to address some of the symptoms, there are counter benefit. So there are different ways we can do. And there are non pharmacological approaches that have been scientifically proven our our intervention is been documented with research studies with with very esteemed global physicians and researcher who knows that there are ways we can, you know, diminish stress, meditation, you know, it’s all about being integrated. Integrative Health is the new way of dealing with medicine. And those intervention Memory Lane is just one of them, is just one of the tools we need to have with us to address those symptoms. Without a pill.
Don Priess:
Hallelujah,
Susie Singer Carter:
You keep talking about integrative health, can you break, just give us a quick like, definition.
Alban Maino:
Yea, it’s true. I use that as part of my jargon, I managed to not for profit here in Portland, Maine for many years, the Center for Wellness leadership, and my goal was to promote Integrative Health. Integrative Health is basically the marriage between traditional western approach of medicine, and Eastern and more esoterical approach of it, but that are all based on science. So to give some examples, that are very practical, some insurance company will pay for psychotherapy, for example, it’s you know, or for meditation, or acupuncture. Everything that is science based, and that is part of your care that is not direct by Western medicine is called integrative health. It’s an approach that integrates all approach of medicine, based on science,
Susie Singer Carter:
Some hospice programs that I’m learning now, they some of them offer music therapy, massage therapy, you know, so they offer those kinds of things lightly, but not enough. So and I think so that there is some obviously there’s validity to to having that whole comprehensive tools, all those tools that help, because one effects the other. You know, we can’t just give somebody I know that for a fact, just my mom, the reason why she’s in hospice, she was hospitalized for something. And you you realize like, all the other things besides the medicine and the hospitalization, that’s what brought her back was the love and the attention and the her realization somewhere deep in her consciousness that she was valuable and that she needed to stay or stick around.
Alban Maino:
And, you know, integrative health, also income encompasses a preventative approach. Whereas our western approach of medicine is based on you’ve got a problem, I can fix it, here’s a pill here’s the tool, right? But if you anticipate what’s going to happen if You eat? Well, if you exercise every day, if you manage if you control what you eat, this is preventative medicine. You know, we this is how it starts, this is how your health journey starts, is monitoring what you eat, what you ingest, how you breathe, you know, breathing exercises, meditation, control your stress level, and this is this is this has been documented and exist in science. It’s not, it’s not as a technical, you know, when we were mentioning massages, you know, when people who have back injuries, they need massages, you know, there are and there are some of the therapeutic of massages that are being reimbursed by the healthcare system, because they’re more effective than the pills, to manage pain and to dissipate the tension. So, yes, that approach is essential.
Don Priess:
Well, that’s what I mean, what you’re doing is basically massage for the brain and the soul. I mean, it really is. It’s, it is it’s stimulating. It’s, it’s, you know, it’s healing. And, you know, there’s, if you look at it that way, you know, there’s no reason why insurance shouldn’t pay for this, because it is just another, it’s another and a better form of therapy,
Alban Maino:
I’ve never had enough money to do a proper clinical research, double blinded would be called, In this world, double blinded studies where you have focus groups, and it costs a lot of money, we’re talking hundreds and hundreds of 1000s of dollars. But we have noticed, from our internal research, correlation between psychotropic medication use and elimination, because when I was getting the example earlier on, when you don’t need to manage a panic attack, and you are dealing with it with visuals or music, or another way to deal it, then there so there is direct benefit is where I’m going with this. And insurance should pay for it, not only because it’s a good thing, and a good massage, you know, and a soft massage, but also because we can save a lot of money by and help people a lot by doing and using those tools.
Susie Singer Carter:
Absolutely. prophylactically you’re going to you’re going to detour – deter- a lot of problems that would happen without that, like so that’s, that would be that should be a motivation for our insurance companies and for our health system. I’m all for that.
Don Priess:
But in the meantime, you’re like I say it’s so affordable what you’re doing that even if insurance doesn’t cover it, it’s fine.
Susie Singer Carter:
It’s fine, you guys. We have gone already over an hour done.
Don Priess:
Because we are chatty, we are really chatty.
Susie Singer Carter:
We are chatty. No, but this is such a this is such a rich topic. I just want to, can you just give us a recap anything like of Memory Lane that you want to for us for our audience? Tell them how, where they can find it. Plus, not to mention it, it’ll all be in the show notes. And you’re going to be hearing from me and Don about this ad nauseam because we’re very we’re huge fans of this. So we are going to we’re going to talk until you’re sick of us. But but any final final things you’d like to say
Unknown:
yes, I want I want to emphasize how easy that is. You know it’s a positive plot free multi sensory media stimulation tool. That is as easy as turning on and off your television, just like you would do to watch a good Netflix show except that this is the only thing that is comparable to Netflix. It’s a fantastic tool for the price of a cup of coffee like Don was saying a month, you can have a 24/7 specifically designed for people with memory loss but their care partners a wealth of information at your fingertips with tools that we already all have within so why not? And the last thing that I want to say is a shout out. You know, it’s like we need help. We need people to help us how to get more content to get it out there to do so that people know that it exists you know, and thank you again Susie and Don for giving me a voice today. And for helping raise that quest and to every one of you listeners out there. Help us spread the world go to Memory-Lane.tv or watchmemorylane.com and the link is in there so they all find it and learn more and share it share it. Thank you very much both of you.
Susie Singer Carter:
Absolutely. Absolutely. This is a this is a passion project. This comes from love you can feel it all over it which is why we were all resonating so much for it because well, Don, why? Why does it resonate?
Don Priess:
Because it does come from love and but we all know about love is that Love is powerful. Love is contagious and Love Conquers Alz. And we all thank you for being here today and we look forward to seeing you next time. Have a great day and we’ll see you soon.
Susie Singer Carter:
Check it out. Check it out. We love you and share and, and, and rate and all the good things.
Don Priess:
All the good things
Susie Singer Carter:
Because it’s worthwhile.
Don Priess:
Take care.
Susie Singer Carter:
Bye! Au revoir!