There is a dearth of research on how Black communities experience dementia and the healthcare system in Canada, even though evidence is emerging that they may have a higher prevalence of dementia than other communities, resulting from their greater exposure to various structural determinants of health (racism and other inequalities in education, employment, housing, etc.). In his book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathways to Mending our Hearts and Bodies, Resmaa Menakem examines how trauma resulting from the racial violence of the past and present becomes embedded within the body and the approaches that can be used to heal those wounds. 

In this keynote, Dr. Ingrid Waldron makes a case for the urgent need to conduct race-based health research and collect disaggregated race-based health data to examine how exposure to various structural determinants of health in Black communities puts them at risk for chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.), thereby elevating their risk for dementia. This data will ensure an inclusive approach to dementia care, with a focus on those most at risk and who often struggle to find the support and services they need.