Dementia Symposium 2024: Let’s Talk about Dementia and Culture - brain health for all.

On October 29, 2024 researchers, advocates living with dementia, public health leaders, and community-based dementia educators explored current evidence-based tips for brain health, how these link to the structural and social determinants of health, and what research and life experience tell us about continuing to live well with a dementia diagnosis. 

Symposium Speaker Bios

 

 

Watch the Symposium

Spanish versions of the recordings coming soon!

Welcome and overview and Discussion 1

Research update on brain health, with Dr. Yakeel Quiroz and Susan Antkowiak. 

Discussion 2

Social determinants of brain health and community experience, with Andrea Dettorre, Boston Public Health Commission, and Dementia Friends Massachusetts Community Partners: 

Kun Chang, Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center

Alana Dundon, Dementia Educator in Brazilian communities

Arnetta E. Ferguson, Dementia Educator in Black/African American and Caribbean communities

Doris Harris, Harris Resources

Lisa Krinsky, LGBTQIA+ Aging Project, Fenway Health

Tirsa Ramirez, Latino Health Insurance Program

Reverend Dr. Sandy Range, Grandmothers’ Village Project

Kathy Service, Dementia and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities expert

Judith Thermidor, East Boston Council on Aging

Discussion 3

Living well with dementia, with advocates Alice "Faye" Bailey and Miriam Owens

Additional Resources

Road to Representation: a 26 minute recording that explains how Dementia Friends Massachusetts has followed the "4 R's" to better serve over a dozen linguistic and cultural communities through its Community Partner model.

Key excerpts from 2022 Community Partners Roundtable

When people in your community hear the word “dementia,” what does this mean to them? (12 minutes)

In your Dementia Friends sessions, what information or ideas about dementia have been the most surprising or the most useful to your participants? (11 minutes)

What does your community need most, when it comes to dementia? What barriers get in the way of meeting these needs? (15 minutes)

What would help people in your community who are living with dementia, and their family members, to feel comfortable communicating about dementia? (9 minutes)

This symposium was brought to you by

 

 

 

Thank you to our sponsors

 

Promotional Partners

 

Please contact Beth Soltzberg with questions about the symposium at bsoltzberg@jfcsboston.org.