A BRAIN 'TUNEUP' AHEAD OF AN EPIC FIGHT.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY

The 60 seniors in ``Dr. Bresky's Brain Tune Up'' class refuse to give up their memories without a fight - without doing everything in their power to beat or delay this insidious enemy called Alzheimer's.

They've all seen what it can do. How it robs the names and faces of loved ones from you, and steals even the simplest of answers from your brain.

No, these seniors in their 80s and 90s with early memory loss living at the Jewish Home for the Aging aren't giving up those memories without a fight.

Not as long as the brain tuneup doctor is around.

His name is Dr. Arnold Bresky, and he spent the better part of his 45-year medical career delivering babies in the San Fernando Valley - almost 10,000 of them, by his own count.

Now he's working the other end of life's spectrum in a pilot program at the home called ``Dr. Bresky's Brain Tune Up.''

The name draws laughs, but it's as serious as a heart attack. The brain is too important, too valuable to the quality of an elderly person's life, to ever take for granted, he says.

So the 60 seniors in his class at the Reseda facility walk in carrying their homework assignments every Thursday - ready for their weekly tuneup.

They spend an hour laughing, learning and being constantly challenged with mental games and physical activities to use their brain more and more.

That's how you fight this enemy called Alzheimer's.

The six-month project, funded with a $45,000 grant from the Jewish Community Foundation, is aimed at improving cognitive and behavioral function in seniors in the beginning stages of memory loss.

If it works - and the test results so far are good, Bresky says - look for a ``Dr. Bresky's Brain Tune Up'' center in a neighborhood near you.

Go ahead and laugh. It's OK. Humor is on the doctor's daily ``to do'' list, along with exercise, good food, Mozart - preferably Concerto No. 21 - and at least 15 minutes a day of kindness toward someone you know.

``Every day, 365 days a year,'' the doctor tells his patients. ``You can't take a vacation from it.''

Not when you're fighting Alzheimer's.

Dorothy Creager walked into her session with 20 other seniors Thursday and handed Bresky a newspaper. There's a story about how Mozart's Concerto No. 21 is being played around the clock in the hospital room of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is fighting for his life after suffering a stroke.

The story validates for the seniors what Bresky has been telling them about how brain scans have shown the brain responds to Mozart. If it's being played to help stimulate the brain of a fallen world leader like Sharon, why not them?

``I remember numbers and names a lot better since I've been coming to this program,'' Creager says, echoing the feelings of the other seniors in the room.

``You learn to listen and think about what you're doing instead of just doing it. I don't go to the refrigerator anymore and stand there wondering what I came for. I know.''

It may be a small thing, but small things like not standing in front of a refrigerator wondering what it was you wanted now bring a smile. It shows the brain is still working just fine.

Bresky, medical director of the Camarillo Springs Holistic Medical Center in Camarillo, started transitioning his practice in the early '90s from delivering babies to the quality of life at the end.

``The way you judge society is how you treat your very young and very old,'' he says. ``I know a lot of the babies I delivered will live to be 100 or older, but what will their quality of life be at that age?

``I started reading everything I could get my hands on about the brain and immune system, and what we could do to fight Alzheimer's.''

While Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia cannot yet be prevented, its onset and many of its debilitating symptoms can be delayed, Bresky says.

The mental tests he has given these seniors at the start of the project will be repeated at the end. Neither he nor the seniors in the program say they have any doubt the results will show an improved mental status and quality of life.

``I always thought I had a decent memory, but I can already see how it's improved so much since I've been in the class,'' Ann Henken said. ``He just doesn't let people forget. He pushes us, makes us use our brain to its maximum. It's exciting and fun.''

Bresky will train staff members at the Jewish home in his techniques so they can continue the program after he leaves. Then, the brain doctor will start knocking on the doors of convalescent homes and care facilities in the area.

Looking to see if there are any seniors in the beginning stages of memory loss who would like to laugh and listen to some Mozart.

For more information on ``Dr. Bresky's Brain Tune Up,'' e-mail abresky(at)earthlink.net.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Brain ``mechanic'' Dr. Arnold Bresky helps Kay Densberg with an exercise to maintain mental acuity at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer