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Speaker 1: Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly

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Speaker 1: conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on

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Speaker 1: one oh six point seven Light FM.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to Get Connected. Caring Kind is a

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Speaker 2: leading expert on Alzheimer's and dementia caregiving. For over forty years,

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Speaker 2: the New York City based organization has been dedicated to

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Speaker 2: supporting everyone impacted by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. My

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Speaker 2: guest is Eleanora Tornatore Mikesh, President and CEO of Caring Kind,

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Speaker 2: for the launch of one hundred Women of Impact, a

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Speaker 2: national movement for women to lend their voice, influence and

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Speaker 2: expertise to advancing the conversation about brain health, equity and

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Speaker 2: quality of life. Eleanora Torna Toorne Mikesh, thank you for

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Speaker 2: being on the show.

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Speaker 3: Oh, thank you so much to having me on the show.

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Speaker 2: You can find out more about the organization at CKNYC

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Speaker 2: dot org. So, Eleanora, I just gave a little bit

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Speaker 2: about Caring Kind and talk more about what you do

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Speaker 2: and the launch of one hundred Women of Impact.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so. Caring Kine's mission has really been steadfast

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Speaker 3: to support three things the individuals with the disease that

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Speaker 3: early diagnosis, so we have a wonderful early stage program

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Speaker 3: all the way to end of life. The family care

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Speaker 3: partners and caregivers, everyone from a family care partner to

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Speaker 3: a professional that is actually working for somebody who with

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Speaker 3: Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. And our third pillar is

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Speaker 3: brain health is for those that we call the worried well,

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Speaker 3: those that have had somebody who have had Alzheimer's in

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Speaker 3: their family and are concerned about what they can do

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Speaker 3: and Caring Kind has launched an initiative starting with one

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Speaker 3: hundred Women of Impact. Although we are focusing on women's brains,

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Speaker 3: this applies to men as well, but we know that

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Speaker 3: if we get women to get there and that they

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Speaker 3: can share and educate the world about new science that

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Speaker 3: has come out at the International of Alzheimer's Association International

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Speaker 3: Conference in Toronto this past summer through a study called

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Speaker 3: the Pointer Study, that thirty to forty percent of Alzheimer's

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Speaker 3: disease can be curtailed by lifestyle. And we want to

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Speaker 3: make sure that women are educated, informed, and have actionable

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Speaker 3: things that they can do to educate people in the

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Speaker 3: community because we know that that is how things get done.

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Speaker 2: We know will things get done through women? For sure?

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Speaker 2: They always say if you want something done, to ask

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Speaker 2: a busy person to do it.

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Speaker 3: Yes.

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Speaker 2: So who are these women?

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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, great question. So a bunch of women came

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Speaker 3: together at Caring Kind and expressed interest and Caring Kind

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Speaker 3: loves to do programs like this. We're really a community

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Speaker 3: led based organization by volunteers and people that have an impact,

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Speaker 3: had really become part of our community and our family.

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Speaker 3: And so the women are made up of leadership women

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Speaker 3: shaping brain health priorities and decision making care elevating their

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Speaker 3: expertise and infrastructure on lived experience policy. Some are in

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Speaker 3: advancing systems, funding and policy that reflect real lives and

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Speaker 3: progress driving measurable sustainable impacts. So many of the women

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Speaker 3: have had, if not all of the women have had

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Speaker 3: somebody in their family, and we have some that have

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Speaker 3: actually had both parents with Alzheimer's disease. There are also

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Speaker 3: some women that have the disease themselves and have decided

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Speaker 3: to come forward. Because if you look at the photos

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Speaker 3: of the first one hundred which was here in Manhattan,

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Speaker 3: are the ages really go from you know, people in

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Speaker 3: their twenty all the way up to their eighties.

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Speaker 2: Do you know that one of those women is one

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Speaker 2: of our colleagues here at LTA FM, Danielle Delilo. She

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Speaker 2: has a personal reason for joining this. How does this

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Speaker 2: cause resonate personally with you?

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Speaker 3: So I've been in this space since I was a

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Speaker 3: candy striper in high school. I don't know if a

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Speaker 3: lot of people remember the name candy striper, but for

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Speaker 3: us old enough, you know, these were these very special

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Speaker 3: trained volunteers in hospitals and I helped be a caregiver

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Speaker 3: for somebody with Alzheimer's disease while I was in high school,

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Speaker 3: and then decided to really dedicate my career to those

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Speaker 3: over the age of sixty five as a gerontologist and thanatologist.

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Speaker 3: And so I've done things like run healthcare centers. The

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Speaker 3: first part of my career, you know, worked on raising

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Speaker 3: funds while I was at the Alzheimer's Association for things

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Speaker 3: like the Pointer Study. And now, you know, probably one

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Speaker 3: of the best things that I've done is be able

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Speaker 3: to raise money for an organization like Caring Kind that

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Speaker 3: really focuses in on the caregivers and those that have

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Speaker 3: been impacted Directly.

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Speaker 2: Caring Kind is a New York City based organization dedicated

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Speaker 2: to helping families supporting everyone living with Alzheimer's and dementia caregiving.

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Speaker 2: You can find out more at CKNYC dot org. We're

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Speaker 2: talking about the launch of one hundred Women of Impact.

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Speaker 2: You're listening to get connected on one six point seven

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Speaker 2: light FM, Amina del Rio and Equity, as you mentioned,

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Speaker 2: is part of the strategy. What are the inequities in

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Speaker 2: dementia care or brain health that are concerning to you

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Speaker 2: and how will this initiative help address them.

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Speaker 3: So we are really lucky to have Senator Gridell as

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Speaker 3: one of the one hundred women, and we have talked

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Speaker 3: about unfortunately, those in the black and brown community are

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Speaker 3: impacted greater with Alzheimer's disease and yet the resources access

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Speaker 3: to care is much lower, and so we are very

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Speaker 3: committed to building a bridge between community and care, and

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Speaker 3: so we're working in areas like Harlem and the Bronx

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Speaker 3: on special projects. We just completed a project in the

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Speaker 3: Bronx with one hundred clients in the black and brown

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Speaker 3: community with a special project called the Blue Zone Challenge,

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Speaker 3: and the Blue Zone Challenge actually it was a four

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Speaker 3: week challenge that really worked with one hundred clients in

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Speaker 3: the black and brown community, that really educated them about

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Speaker 3: food is medicine and lifestyle is medicine. And it was

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Speaker 3: just amazing to hear feedback from those that really had

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Speaker 3: never nobody had ever taken the time to talk to

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Speaker 3: them about diet and the value of community and exercise.

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Speaker 3: And so our results were small because it was only

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Speaker 3: a person challenge, but we one hundred percent want to

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Speaker 3: commit to more to larger investments like that. So really

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Speaker 3: investing in the communities that are hit the hardest is

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Speaker 3: our is our strategy with us.

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Speaker 2: So there's there's a group of people that covers a

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Speaker 2: vast range of experiences. When you're talking about a medical person,

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Speaker 2: you know how they're going to be able to perhaps

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Speaker 2: go in and impact. But for the average person who's

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Speaker 2: joined this and you hope will join in the future,

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Speaker 2: what are they being tasked with?

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Speaker 3: So I think part one of the things about campaigns

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Speaker 3: like this is it's really twofold. It's tapping into their

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Speaker 3: strengths and how they feel comfortable with what they can do,

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Speaker 3: so us identifying and having them in the right you

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Speaker 3: know area. So it made perhaps one of the women

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Speaker 3: is really comfortable with their personal story and we're going

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Speaker 3: to make sure that they're going to be asked to

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Speaker 3: speak at an advocacy forum so that, you know, we

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Speaker 3: can get more legislation asked. And others are a little

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Speaker 3: bit more you know, interested in doing special events and

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Speaker 3: fundraisers and you know, so I think it's really really

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Speaker 3: getting to truly like any other grassroot project, is getting

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Speaker 3: to know the community. What I've learned so far, and

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Speaker 3: this is one of the beautiful things that Blue Zone

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Speaker 3: teaches us in these environments that have a healthier you know,

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Speaker 3: brain health is they call it am a y what

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Speaker 3: this one hundred group of women have started already to

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Speaker 3: become a community and there's a friend, colleague, resource group

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Speaker 3: membership within the one hundred, and I think that that's

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Speaker 3: going to really scale as we add more one hundred

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Speaker 3: in different states.

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Speaker 2: What does success look like for this project one year

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Speaker 2: from now, in five years from now?

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Speaker 3: That is such a great question. And I thought about

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Speaker 3: the answer as somebody has asked me that, and really

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Speaker 3: success looks like that on a small scale, that the

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Speaker 3: one hundred feel better supported. On a larger scale, that

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Speaker 3: this takes a life of its own and really provides

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Speaker 3: movement and resources and support. And the real driver of this,

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Speaker 3: from my own personal opinion is also we've been talking

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Speaker 3: about stigma with Alzheimer's for a really long time, and

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Speaker 3: so my hope is that having these women step forward

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Speaker 3: and be the face a little stigma will be removed

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Speaker 3: or reduced and we can finally get to the work,

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Speaker 3: which is something that we've all been waiting for. There

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Speaker 3: is progress in Alzheimer's, there is not enough progress.

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Speaker 2: If you would like to find out more and indeed

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Speaker 2: step up, you can find out more at CKNYC dot org.

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Speaker 2: That's the website for Karen Kind and you can find

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Speaker 2: out more details there about one hundred women of impact.

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Speaker 2: My guest has been Eleanora Tornatore Mikesh, president and CEO

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Speaker 2: of Karen Kind. Thank you for being on Get Connect.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on

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Speaker 1: one oh six point seven Light FM. The views and

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Speaker 1: opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views

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Speaker 1: of the station. If you missed any part of our

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening,