Participant Success Stories

Gerda Franksiskas

After Kina had her 73-year-old mother, Gerda Franksiskas, move into her home to try to rebuild her life, she noticed her mother was struggling with her memory. Kina soon realized that her mother was not happy with certain aspects of her life and that the stress she had gone through was taking a physical and emotional toll.

Upon a visit with a neuropsychologist and an eight-hour day of testing, they had found that Gerda’s memory was declining. They both wondered what they could do to improve her memory.

“We didn’t want to throw prescription medicine at her, and talk therapy can be intimidating, so it was like, what do we do?” Kina said.

Kina decided to do some research and found Learning Rx, a brain training center that pairs clients with brain trainers for challenging yet fun mental games that help enhance cognitive skills. The center offers unique cognitive skills training methodology that is designed to strengthen the core skills necessary to think and learn.

The center’s main focus is attention, cognitive skills, memory, processing, and logic. Their programs are “personalized, research based, and accessible”.

Gerda initially enrolled in the IRIS program under First Person Care Consultants in 2018. She added Learning Rx to her individualized supports and services plan in November 2021 with the help of her IRIS Consultant, Brian Dimond, and her daughter.

Her initial goals were to decrease her anxiety, improve her word recall, improve her confidence, and basic memory retention. Gerda and Kina say the program is what they have been looking for, for years.

“My confidence is a lot higher,” Gerda said.

Kevin and Jill Pasqua, who run the Brookfield location of LearningRx, have been working with Gerda since she joined Learning Rx.

Before enrolling in Learning Rx, she said everything she wanted to do, she forgot how to do. She said she used to do crafting and painting, but upon setting everything up, her will to create would be gone because she did not have the [mental] room anymore. Every year that she got older, there was always something that fell away.

“I feel, at least for now, ten years younger in a couple of months,” Gerda said.

Brian, her IRIS Consultant, monitors the effectiveness of the service through regular in-person and phone contacts. He continues to authorize this service under her individualized supports and services plan because of her progress. Gerda attends sessions three days a week for one-and-a-half hours. She looks forward to attending the sessions; although she says she is tired at the end, she feels mentally stronger. She says she feels calmer and can advocate for herself.

“This is my second home,” Gerda said, “I don’t feel uncomfortable- these people are my friends and family.”

Gerda plans on continuing to use her IRIS funding to support her success with LearningRx and to meet and obtain her other long-term care needs and outcomes.

Kathy Davie

Kathy Davie can’t remember a time that she hasn’t been reading. When she was in fourth grade, she wanted to be William Shakespeare. “I remember when I was driving with my mom to visit her family, and I was reading a Nancy Drew book,” Kathy said, “I put the book down on the dashboard, and my mom asked me if I was tired already of reading. I said no, no, I finished it.” Today, Kathy has turned her interest in language, reading, editing, and writing into a blog that encompasses her passions.

Kathy’s blog emerged not only for her love of books and reading, but also because she was unable to find a job.

“I’ve been hearing about this blogging thing, and I thought, ‘well, let’s have a look at that’, Kathy said, “I couldn’t think of what to blog about, and I thought, ‘oh, book reviews! It would justify all the reading I’m doing’”.

Kathy’s blog consists of many language and literary topics; including book reviews, formatting tips, grammar explanations, editing resources, and formatting tips. Many of her blog resources are aimed at helping other writers, specifically with editing. She also offers her own editing services on the blog.

Just as Kathy offers help to others in her professional life, she also receives help in her personal life. Kathy has been a member of the IRIS Program through First Person Care Consultants for three years. Through the services she receives in the program, she can focus more on her passions.

“Having somebody coming in and helping with basic daily living things has taken a lot of stress away,” Kathy said.

Kathy also states that something she loves about the program is that she can hire a caregiver that can do multiple tasks. With the assistance of her IRIS Consultant, Dave, Kathy can hire caregivers that not only help her with cooking and cleaning in her apartment, but with art projects and decorating, as well.

Additionally, the program allows her to be creative in her personal and work life. Kathy states that the help she receives has made it easier to accept her limitations because she knows she has someone that can lend an extra hand. She also enjoys the freedom that it gives her.

“I like being able to concentrate on my computer stuff, but I also like that I have someone that can help me be more creative in my home,” Kathy said.

Kathy’s blog can be found at https://kddidit.com/