We are honored to feature Wes Martin as this month’s Advisory Council Member Feature. Wes Martin is a proud member of the Oneida Nation and the Great Lakes Native American Elder Association president. After completing the University of New Mexico’s law program, in 1980, Wes dedicated himself to practicing law in Indian Country. He worked on the reservation for over 35 years and has represented people in every tribal court in Wisconsin.
He began his work with Elders by serving as a chair with the Great Lakes Tribal Council. In this position, he partnered with Elders of the Great Lakes region and doctors from the University of Wisconsin who were working on an Alzheimer’s project. Martin noticed that there was very little information available about Alzheimer’s disease for Native Americans in Wisconsin. These events led Martin to become involved with some national organizations in Duluth, Minnesota, and started working with Dr. Joseph Neil Henderson.
When asked why he joined IA2’s Brain Health Advisory Council, Martin shared that he had worried about his brain health when he started to struggle to remember the names of his long-time friends. Martin began to look for information regarding aging and could not find any resources and learned that the clinics on the Wisconsin reservations had hardly any programs to deal with Alzheimer’s. When IA2’s executive director asked if Martin would join the Advisory Group, Martin was thrilled to help spread awareness and information about Alzheimer’s.
When asked what success looked like for this initiative, Martin responded;
“Success would be to reach as many Native Americans as possible with information,” Martin stated that a coordinated effort is needed to be successful. The cultural differences between Alzheimer’s and dementia for Elders are essential to consider when creating information resources.
