Dementia: From Cure to Care
Dementia is not only about loss; it is also about the preservation of dignity and hope. On Tuesday, May 28, 2019, at 6:30 p.m., Dr. Tia Powell, professor of epidemiology & population health and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Einstein and Montefiore, will speak on the history and future of dementia care, at an event co-hosted by Einstein in conjunction with the New York Public Library and WFUV Radio. Dr. Powell will place particular emphasis on “building a life of joy and dignity from beginning to end”—the subtitle of her new book, Dementia Reimagined.
In her book, Dr. Powell shares how she was not prepared to address the challenges she faced when her grandmother and then her mother were diagnosed with dementia—not to mention confronting the hard truth about her own odds. In the United States, 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day; by the time a person reaches 85, the chances of having dementia approach 50 percent. There is no cure and none on the horizon.
Dr. Powell’s goal is to move the conversation away from an exclusive focus on a cure to a genuine appreciation of care—what we can do for those who have dementia, and how to keep life meaningful and even joyful. Reimagining Dementia is a moving combination of medicine and memoir, peeling back the untold history of dementia, from the story of Solomon Fuller, a doctor whose research at the turn of the twentieth century anticipated important aspects of what we know about dementia today, to what has been gained and lost with the recent bonanza of funding for Alzheimer’s at the expense of other forms of the disease. In demystifying dementia, Dr. Powell helps us understand it with clearer eyes, from the point of view of both physician and caregiver.
Dr. Powell, who is both a psychiatrist and a bioethicist, directs the Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics and the Einstein-Cardozo Master of Science in Bioethics. She also is division head of biomedical and bioethics research training in the department of epidemiology & population healthand is the Dr. Shoshanah Trachtenberg Frackman Faculty Scholar in Biomedical Ethics at Einstein.
The event will be held at the Bronx Library Center, a branch of the New York Public Library, at 310 East Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, NY 10455. The program is sponsored by WFUV News, Einstein, and the New York Public Library. (Read an interview that Dr. Powell did with NPR’s Terry Gross.)
Posted on: Tuesday, May 28, 2019