It’s never too early or too late to start thinking about protecting our brains. Research shows that taking steps to improve our health at any age can be especially important in helping lower our risk of developing dementia in later life. There are many ways to help prevent or delay memory loss and Dr. Patrick P. Coll, medical director for Senior Health at UConn Health shares some of those with us.

Depression in older adults is even more complicated than younger adults and should be treated by a geriatric psychiatrist. The UConn Center on Aging offers one of the biggest divisions of geriatric psychiatry in the country.

November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and a new palliative care inpatient program has been launched at UConn John Dempsey Hospital to enhance patient’s current care by focusing on the quality of life for them and their family.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death because so many patients are diagnosed at late stages when curing the disease is not possible. Many former and current tobacco users are unaware that a simple, annual low-dose CT scan can catch lung cancers early enough to achieve a cure. Dr. Ethan Bernstein and Dr. Electra Kaloudis, are in the process of evolving lung cancer screening at UConn Health into a subspecialized clinic that aims to reduce barriers to lung cancer screening.

Shannon Egan, a nurse in the Internal Medicine Unit at UConn Health beat breast cancer because she found it early and now she advocates for others to make sure they get their annual mammogram. Early detection saves lives.