(Radio Iowa) – A public health collaboration in central Iowa is trying to close health disparities among Latinos seeking care for cognitive health. Jimmy Reyes, a professor at the University of Northern Iowa Department of Nursing and Public Health, says Latinos statistically have more uncontrolled chronic health conditions. Reyes says they also tend to have less access to health care and they tend to be more skeptical of it. This extends to cognitive conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.  “Many times in our Latino community, we know who the big hospitals are. We know the systems. We know that they exist,” Reyes says. “And many times we are very hesitant to go into those places because we don’t feel safe but having ‘promotoras,’ community health workers, who are lay individuals. They are the ones that are actually opening the doors to the community.”

Reyes is partnering with Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines and the Polk County Public Health Department to lead events in places like churches which are designed to increase access, and to get attendees thinking about their cognitive health. Dr. Yogesh Shah, director of the Broadlawns Memory Clinic, says it’s important to catch early signs of dementia before the symptoms manifest more critically. “It’s very significant. Stage wise, they might have more grade dementia but never been diagnosed,” Shah says. “And because of that, they end up in emergency rooms or end up in hospitals not knowing that some of the symptoms are related to their dementia diagnosis.”

Studies find Latinos in the U-S have a one-and-a-half times greater risk of developing dementia than their white counterparts. Reyes and Shah made their comments on the Iowa Public Radio program “River to River.”

(Contributed by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)