Washington State College’s Institute for Analysis and Schooling to Advance Group Well being (IREACH) and Wabanaki Public Well being and Wellness (WPHW) have been awarded a four-year, $4.49 million middle grant from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
This middle grant goals to estimate the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias and delicate cognitive impairment amongst Wabanaki tribal residents aged 55 and older to find out present and future financial prices related to these situations. It additionally helps the event of a public well being course for undergraduate college students and institution of a Wabanaki Public Well being District analysis evaluate board. Based mostly in Bangor, Maine, the middle grant will probably be performed over the following three years.
Dr. Patrik Johansson, MD, MPH, and affiliate professor at WSU’s Elson S. Floyd Faculty of Medication, who can be director of WSU’s Northwest Well being Schooling Analysis Outcomes Community (NW HERON), will co-lead the middle grant with Lisa Sockabasin, RN, MS, and Co-CEO of WPHW.
Johansson has labored for over 20 years with the Wabanaki Nations made up of the Mi’kmaq Nation; the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians; the Penobscot Nation; and the Passamaquoddy Tribe, which contains the Indian Township and Nice Level communities. He has additionally labored with a wide range of Tribes throughout the nation.
Johansson mentioned, “By our partnership we are going to find out about reminiscence operate of Wabanaki elders and create training programming for future generations of public well being professionals and researchers who’re Wabanaki Tribal residents. The work we do in Maine will inform future collaborative efforts with Tribes in Washington state on Tribal priorities pertaining to growing older.”
IREACH school and employees are dedicated to bettering well being by community-based participatory analysis for American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Pacific and Hawaiian Islanders, and different underserved communities in each city and rural settings within the Northwest and different areas throughout the nation.
