“Young at Heart” Memory Care Program Launches in Stony Brook Village

NYS Senator Kemp Hannon (R); Barbara Heaphy, Director of Recreation at The Bristal at East Northport; Gloria Rocchio, President of The Ward Melville Heritage Organization; and Dr. L. Reuven Pasternak, Vice President for Health Systems and CEO of Stony Brook University Hospital kick off the “Young at Heart” Memory Care Program.

The Bristal Assisted Living is proud to be a sponsor of the “Young at Heart” series, a memory care enrichment program being developed by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, in partnership with Stony Brook Medicine, Long Island State Veterans Home and The Jazz Loft. The program will be open to the Long Island community and is targeted to people with early stages of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and their caregivers.

The 26-week long series, scheduled to launch in November, will present programs of music, movement, art and comedy. Programs will be held twice a month at The Jazz Loft or at the Educational & Cultural Center in Stony Brook and will include lunch.

NYS Senator Kemp Hannon, long recognized as the spearheading force behind the development of New York State’s Assisted Living Program and Chair of the Senate Health Committee, helped kick off the program at a special dinner catered by The Three Village Inn on Thursday, September 29th.
“There’s such a need for this multifaceted program and the enrichment that it will offer people all over Long Island,” noted Stony Brook resident, Barbara Heaphy, Director of Recreation at the East Northport community of The Bristal Assisted Living, which operates ten assisted living communities across Long Island.

Long Island residents are invited to participate in a community-wide forum with experts and caregivers to discuss the program on Thursday, October 13th from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at The Ward Melville Heritage Organization’s Education and Cultural Center. Refreshments will be served. RSVP at 631-689-5888.