There is a brutality, to borrow a term from a doctor, to Alzheimer’s in Black communities. In California the rate of Alzheimer’s is highest among African Americans. Alzheimer’s care costs Black families in Los Angeles more than other groups.
So an annual gathering in South Los Angeles of Black church leaders, doctors, representatives of government agencies and African American caregivers to discuss Alzheimer’s would seem dispiriting. There was prayer. There was networking. Even exercise. But I left with hope, having witnessed a model that may help Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers find support — financial, medical as well as social.
