The Eva K. Bowlby Library held a women’s health talk with the Alzheimer’s Association and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh last Wednesday, March 19. The event consisted of lessons on how women can take care of their health and catered to all ages. Alzheimer and ways to treat, as well as prevent it, were also discussed.

“The library got to pair up with Big Brothers Big Sister of Greater Pittsburgh in order to educate women, specifically, on how to take care of their brains,” said Andrew Novak of Bowlby Library. “The attendees got a lesson on their mental, physical, and spiritual well being.”

One of the main focuses was “10 healthy habits for your brain,” led by the Alzheimer’s Association. This lesson included advice such as protecting one’s head with a helmet when doing activities such as riding bikes, challenging your mind, controlling your blood pressure, staying in school, eating healthy, managing diabetes, being smoke free, maintaining a healthy weight, sleeping well and to stay active. A major concern for a lot of women is not knowing if they are spiraling into dementia and Alzheimer’s. Doing these activities can help keep one’s brain in the moment and aware of what’s going on around you.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh focuses on the youth of the area rather than a wide variety of ages, and caters to both men and women; their mission is to “create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth,” According to Novak. Their goal is to aid the younger generation into making healthy decisions that will last a lifetime and create an impact on their future, as well as setting goals such as graduating high school. 

Because of all the recurring events the library holds, the women’s health talk is not a monthly event.

“It’s definitely something we are looking into,” Novak said. “We got a good turnout and know more women would love to attend, so making it a monthly thing is a possibility.”

The Eva K. Bowlby Library holds events such as this and more throughout the year. More information on them can be found on the library’s website and Facebook account.