Posted in the StarTribuneShoreview-based Ecumen, an operator of independent and assisted living housing, care centers and home health care, has initiated a six-month pilot project at its Lakeview Commons facility in Maplewood to test a new cognitive fitness program.’ Ecumen is using the mPower Cognitive Fitness system from Dakim Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., to help customers reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.Dakim believes that regularly exercising the mind is the key to memory and mental function. Using a touch-screen interface, mPower has thousands of exercises featuring colorful images and generational-specific references including movie clips from the ’30s and ’40s. The program feels like a game but the questions have been designed to address cognitive processes from memory to computation to critical thinking and life skills.Ecumen is one of 11 senior housing companies nationally (the only one in Minnesota) testing the program. Ecumen has enrolled about 30 residents in the new cognitive program and will evaluate the program over the next six months before rolling it out to its more than 100 communities.PATRICK KENNEDY