Aisha Arain

IR 1/ 10 GT/ 2
November 27, 2019
Interview Transcript
Interviewer: Aisha Arain
Interviewee: Barbara Resnick, Geriatrics, University of Maryland
When: November 25, 2019, at 6:00 PM
Interview Setting: On the phone, at River Hill High School
Affiliation with interviewee: Barbara Resnick is a professor who teaches at UMD, who is
familiar with my mother. I contacted her for the first time, for the purpose of this
interview.

Transcript:

Aisha Arain: Hello! This is Aisha Arain, from River Hill High School. I am calling for the interview
on dementia, is this a good time for you?

Barbara Resnick: Hi! Yes, this is a good time.

Aisha Arain: Ok, awesome! So to begin, I am apart of the Independent Research Program at my
school, where we choose a topic and research it at an in-depth level for the whole year. This
year I plan on research how the implantation of Artificial Intelligence inside the brain can lessen
the effects of dementia by connecting neurons that have stopped communicating.
*3-second pause*

Aisha Arain: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, I really appreciate it.

Barbara Resnick: No problem!

Aisha Arain: So my first question is about what you do. What do you research?

Barbara Resnick: I do research on optimizing function and physical activity in older adults. Now
many of them, or the majority of them, have some cognitive impairments. But I certainly don’t
work within Artificial Intelligence.

Aisha Arain: Yes, I was hoping to gain some information on dementia and it’s effects on the
human brain from this interview. I thought you would be a really great Geriatric to interview.

Barbara Resnick: Thank you!

Aisha Arain: So what attracted you to this field?

Barbara Resnick: I have been doing geriatrics for my whole life. I grew up in a nursing home
and I went every day during my preschool life. I started working in healthcare facilities when I
was in high school, so I did a work-study program in high school, where I was a nursing
assistant. So, I have done geriatrics forever and I’m a geriatric nurse practitioner, it’s all I do.
 Aisha Arain
IR 1/ 10 GT/ 2
November 27, 2019
Interview Transcript
Aisha Arain: Wow, that’s really cool. It really has been your whole life! So, where does
dementia mainly occur? In what kinds of people?

Barbara Resnick: Its usually older adults, there are some people who get early-onset dementia.
There are different types of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease, temporal lobe dementias,
Louie body disease, but its just changes in the brain that can’t always be seen in an MRI, but on
a pet scan. These changes are seen very often due to cardiovascular disease because of the
blockages of circulation to the brain.

Aisha Arain: Blockages of circulation to the brain. Ok, so what are some current methods
used for patients to cope with their disability?

Barbara Resnick: We use behavioral interventions, depending on the level of the person’s
dementia. A lot of it is keeping a calendar, keeping busy, keeping engaged because the worst
thing is to sit in a blank room and not stimulate your brain. What you might want to look into is
something called mind plasticity or brain plasticity, which is stimulating your brain with trying to
learn things you don’t know, do things you don’t normally do, because we all tend to kind of go
in patterns. So you would want to refresh your brain so that you get and learn new patterns, and
that’s called brain plasticity.

Aisha Arain: I will definitely look into that! That is so interesting. So right now, what is being
done to prevent people from getting dementia? Is there anything?

Barbara Resnick: There really is no prevention. We usually talk about exercising or keeping
engaged, but there really is no way to prevent someone from getting the disease. Treating
cardiovascular disease is probably the best thing. Treating hypertension or if you have certain
factors leading to heart disease it might be taken into consideration for dementia. You want to
prevent little strokes.

Aisha Arain: Regarding the treating of hypertension in cardiovascular diseases, that would help
because blood would continue flowing to the brain, correct?

Barbara Resnick: Exactly, that is what you want to make sure happens

Aisha Arain: You said there really is no prevention for dementia, my next question was if there
is anything that can be injected into the patient or placed into the human body to lessen
the effects of the disease?

Barbara Resnick: There are some drugs, but they’re not really effective. There are somethings
called cholinesterase inhibitors.
 Aisha Arain
IR 1/ 10 GT/ 2
November 27, 2019
Interview Transcript
Aisha Arain: I read somewhere that the estimated number of people worldwide is currently at
fifty million and is expected to triple by 2050. Is dementia more likely to happen in the future
than ever before? Why?

Barbara Resnick: Because there are more older people.

Aisha: Oh wow! So it has to do with the population?

Barbara Resnick: Yeah, it’s just numbers. The more older people you have, the risk increases
with age.

Aisha Arain: Right. So my research has to do with artificial intelligence, but so far I have only
read that the AI being used for dementia is being used through Amazon Alexa, Siri, etc.
Have you seen that in use?

Barbara Resnick: I have seen it in use, but I do not think it is useful, though.

Aisha Arain: It doesn’t do anything useful? How has it been used?

Barbara Resnick: Families sometimes get an Alexa for their family member. Sometimes they
can use it, sometimes they can’t. I just have not seen it in my own practice is useful.

Aisha Arain: Ok, so with dementia patients, what do you think is something that, as a
population, we can be doing to help them cope? Are there any technologies that you
think would help?

Barbara Resick: There are some home-based safety technologies that people are looking at for
home use. It all depends, the generation maybe a little more computer and technology
comfortable, so they might use some of these things a little bit more.

Aisha Arain: Do you think that if an AI piece was created to be implanted, families would
be open to using it?

Barbara Resnick: Some, yeah!

Aisha Arain: But there isn’t exactly anything that you can implant into the body to help yet, right?

Barbara Resnick: No, there is not.

Aisha Arain: Well thank you so much, that concludes all of my questions.

Barbara Resnick: Okay! Good luck!

 Aisha Arain
IR 1/ 10 GT/ 2
November 27, 2019
Interview Transcript
Aisha Arain: Thank you, thank you for your time. It’s been a pleasure talking to you.

Barbara Resnick: Alright, take care!

Reflection:

This interview was definitely of aid to my research. Going into the interview, I had the

expectation of understanding and learning the effects that dementia has on the human brain.

Since I am just starting out my research, I thought that an interview on dementia would be of

most use to me, as it is the disease that my entire project is based around. Barbara Resnick

was able to answer all of my questions and provided me with specific examples of methods

used to prevent dementia. I was able to have a flowy conversation with Ms.Resnick and asked

in-depth questions that actually provided me with details to walk away with. I found it easy to

find a quiet, calm place to do the interview and actually get ahold of Ms. Resnick. She picked up

within a few seconds of my first call! I also found it easy to write down my notes while speaking

to her, because I had my laptop open and ready for me. I found it difficult to find the right time

that would work for both of us. Next time, I will email the person I want to interview at least one

week ahead of time so that I can schedule an interview time easily. Overall, this interview was a

great experience and was of huge aid to my understanding of dementia’s effects on the human

brain.

Questions and notes

1. What exactly do you do? What do you research?

Optimizing function in older adults who have cognitive issues. Geriatrics works at UMD

2. What attracted you to this field?

Geriatrics have been her whole life. The nursing home was her home, she grew up
there. She was a nurse practitioner.

3. I understand that the brain retains information through synapse communication. How do
neurons communicate with one another? WAS NOT ABLE TO ANSWER
 Aisha Arain
IR 1/ 10 GT/ 2
November 27, 2019
Interview Transcript
4. Are many neuron communications needed to retain lots of information? If someone has
less neuron communication than another person will it affect how much they can
remember? WAS NOT ABLE TO ANSWER
5. How does a miscommunication of neurons occur? WAS NOT ABLE TO ANSWER

6. Where does dementia mainly occur? In what people?

Usually in older adults. Different types. Changes in the brain. It cannot always be seen.
Blockages and circulations to the brain

7. What are the current methods used for dementia patients to cope with their disability?
Behavioral interventions. Keeping a calendar, being busy and engaged. Have to be
stimulated. LOOK INTO BRAIN PLASTICITY.

8. What is being done to prevent people from getting dementia?

No prevention, keeping engaged. Treating hypertension and cardiovascular disease

9. Is there anything that is currently being injected or placed into the human body to lessen
the effects of dementia?
Some drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors.

10. I read that the estimated number of people is likely to triple by 2050. Is dementia more
likely to happen in the future than in the past? Why?
Older people. Has to do with population.

11. I read that AI in Alexa and Siri is being widely used for dementia patients. Is this true?
Has seen it in use, is not useful.

What can we do?

Home base technologies. Thinks that AI would be an option.