May is Older Americans Month. A great time to stop, reflect, and recognize
the contributions of older adults across the nation and in our communities. Elders raise families, give back to their community, provide mentorship to upcoming generations, are knowledge holders, and so much more. This month especially, we take time to acknowledge and celebrate our elders.
In May the IA2 brain health team continues it’s busy run. Special highlights from this month include:
- Dr. Jolie Crowder traveled to Shoshone-Bannock tribal community in Idaho to provide a couple of presentations on dementia along with co-presenters from Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the Administration for Community Living. The conference attracted more than 300 participants from across the country representing 25+ tribes. The audience included an impressive and fully engaged group of mostly elders.The presentation kicked off with some sobering statistics about elder abuse and people living with dementia. Recorded sessions will be available in coming weeks.
- Our national Advisory Group met and discussed 3 of the 6 information products that the IA² team is developing for this year. The Group also heard from Dr. Bruce Finke at IHS about the upcoming funding opportunity for dementia models of care and Chelsea Kline and Katie Maslow about opportunities for people living with cognitive impairment and their caregivers to participate in advisory groups with the BOLD Caregiving Center of Excellence and the National Institute of Aging (contact us if you’d like to be connected!). The Group welcomed 3 new members from the Idaho Division of Health and Wellness, Absentee Shawnee Tribal Health System, and Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council.
- Mary Ann and Breana completed a series of trainings called “Plain Language Writing for Public Health Professionals” by the University of Arkansas Center for Health Literacy. This is part of our quest to learn to develop more accessible, inclusive, and useful outreach materials for tribal communities. Did you know that only about 12 in 100 adults in the U.S. have the complex set of skills required to find, understand, and use health information to make health-related decisions and improve their health?
- We continue virtual pilots of Dementia Friends for American Indian and Alaska Native Communities information session and Dementia Friends Champions training. In May we unveiled a new PowerPoint presentation to accompany learning modules and are in the process of adjusting scripted content. Learn more below about upcoming opportunities below. You can become a Dementia Friends Champion for your community and bring these engaging community info sessions to your tribe.
- June is brain health and Alzheimer’s (dementia) awareness month. Don’t forget to create, share, and raise awareness in your community.
- Be sure to follow our Facebook page for campaigns and resources we invite you to borrow for your own social media and newsletters– and please share within your circle to help us spread the word.
- IA2 continues to offer an amazing, evolving Brain Health Resource Library for American Indian and Alaska Native community-focused resources.
- We are very excited to welcome a new member to our team: Allison Miles. She is a student at George Mason University with a special interest in American Indian health and policy issues. She will be joining us for the coming months as our new Intern. A warm almost-summer welcome to Allison.
- Check out the story below about our President, Bill Benson, and his twirl around the dance floor to raise money for Alzheimer’s.
- Be sure to follow IA2 on social media. You can check us out on Twitter for future campaigns and social media messages we invite you to borrow and re-use.
IA2 continues to offer print-on-demand stipends of $250 for flyers and posters from the IA2, ASTHO, and National Council for Urban Indian Health (NCUIH) suite of materials developed with funding from the CDC.
Click here to read our Resource Center updates, learn about our upcoming events, and what we’ve been doing to help American Indian and Alaska Native communities address brain health, Alzheimer’s, and dementia.
