AARP Maryland Brain Health Program is a Hit
When the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched in 2022, Lois Meszaros of Severna Park wanted to help spread the word about it.
A licensed psychologist and member of the AARP Maryland Volunteer Executive Council, Meszaros turned to other AARP volunteers and staff for help in making a 30-minute video publicizing the hotline. The video, which debuted in May 2023, featured interviews with two local advocates who were involved with the regional implementation of the hotline.
Thousands of people have watched that episode, which is part of “Brain Health with AARP Maryland,” a quarterly interview series that began in 2021. The primary goal is to educate older Marylanders about mental, physical and emotional well-being and share effective strategies for dealing with everything from loneliness to a lackluster love life.
A small group of volunteers and staff produces the pieces, which are free and available to anyone on AARP Maryland’s YouTube and Facebook pages.
Organizers often choose topics based on emerging research, tying each episode to at least one of AARP’s Six Pillars of Brain Health: Be social, Engage your brain, Manage stress, Ongoing exercise, Restorative sleep, Eat right.
“We’re really trying to be very careful about picking appropriate, meaningful topics,” Meszaros says.
The series is flourishing, according to viewership data. Its reach has expanded from a few hundred people per episode when it started to several thousand, including a high of about 12,000 viewers who have watched a dementia episode that first streamed in November.
And the audience extends beyond Maryland to include viewers across the country, says Eleanor Nancarrow, an AARP Maryland program specialist who coproduces the series.
“It’s really a beautiful thing for me to be able to watch and be a part of,” she says.
On Tap: Sleep and Fitness
The episodes typically involve interviews with behavioral health specialists; the moderators also solicit viewers’ questions and share resources from AARP and other sources.
The first episode debuted in September 2021. Since then, more than a dozen have been produced, including the most recent piece in June on restorative sleep.
The next episode, slated for September, will feature a fitness expert and highlight the benefits of exercise for mental well-being as people age.
Michael Friedman, a retired social worker in Baltimore who volunteers with AARP Maryland on mental health issues, conceived of the web series during the pandemic. With mental health problems surging among older Americans and other age groups, he and other AARP volunteers thought a virtual program about how to handle these issues would help.
Meszaros embraced the idea, in part as a way to help alleviate a national shortage of behavioral health workers. In 2023, nearly 1.9 million Marylanders, 30 percent of the population, lived in areas of the state that had a shortage of mental health care professionals, according to data from KFF, a health policy research organization.
The first episode focused on social isolation. Friedman interviewed Thomas Cudjoe, a Johns Hopkins Medicine assistant professor who specializes in social isolation, loneliness and geriatric medicine. They discussed how developing new connections with people and enhancing established ones can help reduce feelings of loneliness.
They also talked about the benefits of volunteering. And Cudjoe answered questions from viewers, such as, “What if an older adult begins to experience anxiety or panic when thinking about social interactions due to chronic social isolation?”
Meszaros hopes the series is filling some of the mental health services gaps and helping to keep people mentally healthy. But viewers aren’t the only ones likely benefiting.
Marsha Goldberger, a retired program manager with S&P Global and AARP volunteer who coproduces the series, says working on the project has helped keep her own mind sharp.
“It definitely is gratifying for me,” she says.
You can find all the episodes on AARP Maryland’s Facebook page at facebook.com/aarpmd/videos and on the group’s YouTube channel at aarp.org/mdbrainhealthseries.
Ryan Basen, a Washington-based writer and editor, writes about health care, medicine and other topics.
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