IA2 president Bill Benson facilitated a fireside chat @ the CDC’s 2021 Healthy Brain Initiative grantee meeting including including speakers Dr. Sheri Daniels, Kerri Lopez, and Dave Baldridge. Dr. Sheri Daniels is executive director of Papa Ola Lokahi. Lopez is the BOLD Act grant project director for Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. Baldridge is executive director of IA2 and provides leadership and consultation for the organization’s 5-year Centers for Disease Control and Prevention healthy brain initiative grant that includes risk reduction promotion for dementia, Alzheimer’s and progressive memory issues.
Expert panelists responded to a range of questions addressing leadership structures, culturally appropriate methods for approaching tribes and Native Hawaiian entities, awareness of “brain health” in indigenous communities, and strengths of these communities that should be centered in public health approaches to work with these populations.
