Brenda and Mark Roberts founded a nonprofit, the National Council of Dementia Minds, to change what they saw as a "tragedy narrative" about dementia after Mark was diagnosed with dementia.
Nearly 6 million Americans have dementia, and one in three older adults dies with it, but dementia is still wildly misunderstood both by the general public and even the medical community. Here in Michigan, people living with dementia, those who care for them, and leaders in the nonprofit and health care sectors are working to change the conversation about dementia on both a local and national level.
Some of these leaders and activists are trying to create a sense of community for those living with dementia. Some are trying to create better resources and support for those who care for a loved one with dementia. Some are working to make entire cities more dementia-friendly. But they're all focused on ensuring that people living with dementia are treated with the same dignity and respect as anyone else. As we kick off our second season of Michigan's State of Health, we'll introduce you to some of the people who are leading this work in Michigan – many of them people living with dementia themselves. Listen to the episode in the widget below.
Michigan's State of Health is a spinoff of the State of Health series of feature stories, which you can read
here. Michigan's State of Health is produced by
Issue Media Group and made possible through the support of the
Michigan Health Endowment Fund.
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