BALTIMORE — Dementia.
Frankly, that word scares a lot of people. And it’s not easy to talk about. Chuck Brown knows.
“Currently, we have three family members experiencing dementia,” Brown says. “Everybody in the family hasn’t accepted the idea of this is something we need to talk about.”
So Brown, a Baltimore native and documentary filmmaker in Atlanta, did what he does best. He made a movie, ‘Remember Me: Dementia in the African American Community.’ In it, he tells the stories of his family and other African American families dealing with dementia.
“We want to be able to use the documentary to create that conversation,” he says. “To stimulate that, that, that talk that we haven’t always had in the African American community, for lots of reasons. But we want to be able to say, hey, it’s okay to have that conversation.”
It’s one of several ways dementia advocates are bringing awareness and information to the African American community.
“We need the information,” says Marlyn Massey with the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Maryland Chapter. “It affects us two and a half times more than our white counterpart.”
Movies, plays, comedy shows and jazz concerts. All sharing information on the signs and symptoms of cognitive diseases, and the help that is available.
“If you’re not receiving it from your primary care physicians,” she says, “if you’re not receiving it in other means, what can we do? We can take the information to where the people are, and that’s what we’re trying do.”
On February 13, Brown’s award-winning film returns to Baltimore for a free screening at Coppin State University. There will be light refreshments and a question-and-answer session afterward with local healthcare experts. Register for the screening here: bit.ly/4gyUvUg.
He’s also hosting a conference on dementia, and at that event will be a comedy show.
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” he says. “Educate people about the risk factors, about what dementia is, and the different types of dementia, and things that we can do to control it.”
