In the building at 160, Saint-Viateur Est, in Mile End, we find designers, studios, record companies, but also the offices of Lucilab, which created a free application – and even a service. support – to reduce the risks of neurocognitive disorders through the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits.
Last Wednesday, the day before World Alzheimer’s Day, the podcast show La Force de l’Age was launched, hosted by Sylvie Bernier, gold medalist at the 1984 Olympic Games. quickly as we think. I close my eyes and I’m 20 years old on a springboard. I open them and host [a] podcast on aging,” said the 59-year-old speaker.
The podcast is an addition to Lucilab’s digital intervention program, which President Marc-André Chagnon wants to make widely known. Parenthesis: we interviewed the entrepreneur and musician several times without knowing that his family was that of the André and Lucie Chagnon Foundation, behind so many philanthropic contributions to Quebec.
Marc-André Chagnon founded Kannibalen Records and has toured all over the world with his band Black Tiger Sex Machine. He recently left the stage to divide his time between Lucilab and the management of his record label founded with high school friends. The bridge between the two is easy since the offices of both companies are on the same floor at 160 Saint-Viateur Est.
Lucilab was dear to the heart of his grandfather André Chagnon, who died less than a year ago. “It was her last project after my grandmother passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2014.”
Last June, Marc-André Chagnon also lost his mother, after his father in 2021 and his sister in 2014. A difficult series of bereavements. “You find gratitude where you can. I had the builder gene somewhere, so that allows me to stay positive,” he simply says with humility.
For her part, Sylvie Bernier has always been close to the Chagnons. “I met the family when I returned from the Olympic Games in Los Angeles,” she says. Marc-André wasn’t even born. »
Sylvie Bernier worked at TVA, then owned by the Chagnons. Their collaboration continued with the Quebec Foundation for Athlete Excellence and Quebec en form.
During André Chagnon’s funeral service, Sylvie went to convey her condolences to Marc-André, whom she had met. She wanted to tell him to what extent Lucilab’s mission was at the heart of the mission she has been leading since her career as an athlete, namely the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Less than 24 hours later, Marc-André called him. A few months later, the podcast show La Force de l’Age was offered to the public (on all platforms and on YouTube).
The podcast consists of six episodes. In the first, Dr. Sylvie Belleville, president of the scientific committee at Lucilab, discusses the different types of memory. In the others, it is about hearing health, sleep, the importance of social connections and the relationship between the heart and the brain (with Dr. Martin Juneau).
We present the facts instead of lecturing people. “We needed an approach that didn’t scare,” argues Sylvie Bernier. A commitment to ourselves in relation to our health, I believe in it deeply. »
With the podcast, Marc-André Chagnon wants to promote the application of Lucilab to another level. After years of work – first scientific research, then technological development – its team of 40 employees is ready to support more than the 700 people guided so far. “Ultimately, we would like to work with levels of government to offer it to as many people as possible. »
The Luci application offers support with advisors. On this, we must first answer a questionnaire on our lifestyle habits which then allows us to establish objectives centered around diet, physical activity and intellectual stimulation. “It’s a 12-week program with a small steps approach,” says Marc-André Chagnon.
“Our intervention is truly behavioral. We are aiming for a change in behavior and it is personalized,” adds Isabelle Lussier, director of research and intervention.
The trained neuropsychologist, who was a researcher in psychiatry and who worked in the pharmaceutical industry, was recruited in 2018 by Marc-André Chagnon. With research following the Finnish FINGER study, the case is strong: up to 40% of cases of Alzheimer’s disease are attributable to modifiable risk factors. “Acting in prevention is important,” she argues.
Next step: make Luci known throughout Quebec from her Mile End brain.
