New dementia day program at Huron Lodge features podcasting studio

The Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County officially opened the doors to its second adult day program Thursday afternoon.

Called "Daybreak at the Lodge," the program is located inside Huron Lodge, a municipally-owned long-term care facility on Cabana Road.

The space can accommodate 15 clients, three days a week, and according to the Society, is already at 65 per cent capacity. Clients can go for walks, play piano, read books — and even record a podcast or video.

Afternoon Drive's Jonathan Pinto visited the studio Thursday. Tap to hear more.

"We had this idea a couple months ago when we were opening up this new location," explained education and support coordinator Andrew Berthiaume. "We said, 'how can we further listen to our clients?' They have so many stories."

Berthiaume spoke to CBC News while assisting Greg McCullough, a client of the program who is a retired high school teacher and athlete.

"Greg brings his backpack and he has literally everything. He has his [race bibs] that he wore," Berthiaume said. "It's just nice because these memories could be lost, right — so [we wanted to] preserve these things and maybe create an artifact for them."

Currently, studio recordings are for private, family use, but Berthiaume says the plan is to eventually release recordings to the public as a podcast. He also hopes to open the studio and equipment for community use.