Written by: Talyah Sands, MPH
My passion for promoting health sparked in college. During my freshman writing seminar on the theme “writing and social responsibility,” I read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder about the late Dr. Paul Farmer. There was a moment in the book that struck me and has stuck with me ever since—after a long trek to provide medical care to people in a remote area of Haiti, Dr. Farmer had a conversation with one of the local people he was serving. The local person remarked that if their community had learned to read and write, maybe they would not be encountering the health challenges they were experiencing.
The importance of having information to make decisions at the individual level and within a community is what drew me to public health and eventually to dementia. With a family history of dementia, I wish my family had more information about the signs of cognitive decline and what to do about it when we needed it most. Having witnessed the experience of cognitive decline within a family and hearing so many similar stories from others, I am inspired to work as part of the public health movement to improve outcomes and equity. I recognize that the information we need on a personal level to navigate our daily lives is also influenced by the systems and structures of our society that impact our education, economics, and exposures to name a few.
I am honored to serve on IA²’s Brain Health Advisory Council as one way I can contribute to the public health movement to address dementia. It aligns with my value of equity and justice, and desire to improve equitable outcomes in brain health for American Indians and Alaska Natives. I have learned so much from the IA² team over the years. It is a privilege to continue learning from their work and that of the partners on the Advisory Council. I hope to continue learning from the IA² team and the Advisory Council partners about how we, as a public health community, can best meet the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native people living with dementia and their caregivers.
