When the Life Activity Center inside the Frank Gehry-designed Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health opened at a private celebration on May 21, it marked a significant milestone for Symphony Park: the completion of the downtown community’s first anchor project.  The Life Activity Center is a spacious facility designed to accommodate special events and is the final component within this remarkable building that also houses clinical space, a diagnostic center, neuroimaging rooms, physician offices, laboratories devoted to clinical research and a caregiver library.

At the celebration, Mayor Oscar Goodman issued a Mayoral proclamation: “Today, we recognize people living with brain diseases and honor the caregivers and healthcare providers who support them. Preserving and improving the health of our minds is important to our future, which is why I proclaim today, May 21, as Brain Health Day in the city of Las Vegas.”

The Center’s noble goal is to cure Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and ALS. New discoveries and emerging science are showing that cognitive disorders can be identified earlier than previously believed, offering the potential for early intervention that may delay disease. In the case of Alzheimer’s, delaying its onset by just 10 years can make a profound life improvement for the millions and their families afflicted by this disease.

The $80 million Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health began construction on February 9, 2007 and treated its first patient on July 13, 2009. For more information about the Life Activity Center, available for public rental for a variety of special events such as weddings, meetings and social gatherings, visit www.keepmemoryalive.org or call (702) 263-9797. For Clinic information or an appointment, call (702) 483-6000.

Photo of Frank Gehry (left) and Larry Ruvo (right) by Erik Kabik