Alzheimer’s Association Honors Local Staff Member Who is Making a Difference in the Fight to End Alzheimer’s Sherita Jenkins is the Manager of Community Volunteers for the Alzheimer’s Association Iowa Chapter, and she is dedicated to the fight to end Alzheimer’s after losing her mom Bettye Jones to Alzheimer’s in 2017. Unfortunately, African Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as older white Americans, and Sherita says her story is similar to many in the Black community who are affected by this disease. There is evidence that missed diagnoses of Alzheimer’s and other dementias are more common among older African Americans than among older whites, and this was the case for Sherita’s mom as well. Sherita said she noticed something was wrong with her mom starting in 2006, but she and her family didn’t know it could be Alzheimer’s. “In the African American community, it is common to care for family members instead of going to the doctor or be in denial or not even know about Alzheimer’s, including the warning signs. Instead, we would hear words like “senile” to describe the behavior,” says Sherita. “Looking back after working for the Association I realized my mom had all the warning signs.” Since her mom lived in Georgia, Sherita only got to see her once or twice a year, so she didn’t know how bad things were getting. When she would visit, she started noticing her mom was hoarding, spending money erratically and losing weight, but it wasn’t until 2016 when her mom came to visit her for Mother’s Day that she really knew something was wrong. Her mom was acting withdrawn and wasn’t herself at all. Sherita tried making doctor appointments, but her mom would get angry and say she didn’t know about the appointments even though Sherita had told her about them. Then, her mom started falling a lot. Sherita got her mom a walker because it was the most help she would accept, but she ended up falling badly and breaking her hip. After surgery to fix her hip and throughout rehab, her mom started getting worse. A month or so after surgery, Sherita’s mom was diagnosed with dementia. Though she did start walking again, her dementia had progressed so much that she didn’t remember anything. Unfortunately, there is evidence that missed diagnoses of Alzheimer’s and other dementias are more common among older African Americans than among older whites. Since African Americans may be more likely to be diagnosed in the later stages of the disease, they are usually in need of more medical care. Early detection and diagnosis can allow for earlier use of available treatments that may provide some relief of symptoms and help maintain independence longer. “After my mom’s diagnosis in 2016, the doctor didn’t give any resources, help or information about the disease.
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