Bingo? These vets prefer to write

Kaye Johnson doesn't play Bingo.

"I had enough of it before I was 10," the 73-year-old grumbled about the game.

So don't expect to find him shuffling chips during the morning, noon and night number-calling sessions at the Veteran's Memorial Home at Menlo Park in Edison.

Instead, he prefers to gather in one of the home's meeting rooms on Monday afternoons with a handful of his fellow vets, stacks of loose leaf paper laid out in front of them.

There, the former military men read and discuss their own poetry and short stories in a weekly writers' group, a recently added activity at the home that offers Bingo-resistant residents something a bit more creative.

"You go to Bingo, you sit there, and maybe you win, maybe you lose," said John Grace, a 64-year-old Vietnam vet from Carteret. "But you don't get to put anything into it. Here, you get to do something with your head."

And that, experts say, is likely a benefit to older adults. While there is a need for more research in the area, studies suggest that intellectually stimulating activities -- crossword puzzles, discussion, writing -- can prevent or reduce the impact of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, said Dr. Thomas Cavalieri, dean of osteopathic medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

"It's the concept of: If you don't use it, you'll lose it," Cavalieri said. "There's a lot of evidence that suggests that's true."

The workshop was sprung a few months ago when Annette Wexler, a 79-year-old who lives around the corner, volunteered at the home -- a 24-hour care facility for veterans, near Menlo Park mall.

Officials at the home asked her what she wanted to do, and Wexler -- a longtime journalist and writer -- suggested a few ideas, including a creative writing class. Because they try to offer a wide array of activities fit to their residents' interests and hobbies, officials at the home loved the idea.

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