Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
African-Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia at two to three times the rate of non-Hispanic whites, but at the same time - they are less likely to take part in research.
That's created a challenge for researchers hoping to get a better understanding how the disease affects this population.
We spoke to
, a a reporter for Kaiser Health News. We started our conversation by talking about two people she profiled, Levi and Dorothy Reeves, an African American couple dealing with dementia.
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Levi suffers from a form of dementia called Lewy Body Dementia. Dorothy has been taking care of him for years, dressing and feeding him, but although she has not had a negative experience with a doctor, she was initially hesitant to donate Levi's brain to researchers so they could study the effects of the disease.
And that speaks to a bigger problem with understanding African Americans and Alzheimers and Demetia.
(click on the blue arrow to hear the entire interview)