News from the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital
December 20, 2022
David Quiroa has been serving as Assistant Director for the Department of Senior Services in Cranston, Rhode Island for nearly 20 years. In that role, he’s implemented innovative programming and brought valuable resources to Cranston’s seniors, taking special care to include a multicultural, multilingual approach.
Now he’s using his talents to help the Memory and Aging Program implement critical Alzheimer’s awareness outreach to immigrant and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) communities across Rhode Island, as Chair of MAP’s Community Advisory Board (CAB).
It’s a role that comes naturally to Quiroa, an energetic and caring community leader who comes from a bicultural and bilingual background himself. He was born in New York but spent part of his childhood living in his parents’ native country of Guatemala.
“About 20 years ago I was very active in the community, trying to help new immigrants integrate into society,” Quiroa says. “I did a lot of volunteer interpreter work and got a call from Mayor Laffey’s office saying they needed an interpreter in 45 minutes for an event with the delegation from the city of Guatemala. The mayor and I hit it off, and I began working for him. After a few months, an opportunity to work at the Cranston Senior Center came about, and I’ve been here ever since.”
In addition to creating and providing programming for Cranston’s seniors, Quiroa has also gotten the Center involved in a number of initiatives focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia awareness and resources, spearheading collaborations, grant funding, programming, and outreach to underserved populations.
“We’ve really become almost sister agencies with Butler Hospital, because we really collaborate quite a bit. Every Wednesday we have health and wellness workshops here at the Senior Center, and the Memory and Aging Program (MAP) at Butler Hospital has always been an integral part of that,” Quiroa says. “So when MAP put together its Community Advisory Board, I knew I wanted to be involved. On a professional level I wanted to make sure Cranston was at the table and that I could learn from others and assist in bringing our resources to the table for others as well. On a personal level, it was important to me to assist and do outreach, especially in the Spanish speaking community.”
“Because I’m bilingual and bicultural, I understand both of those potential hurdles to communication, and that gives me the ability to present information to these communities in such a way that it’s not just going to be in their language, it’s going to be culturally competent as well, which is very important. So I joined the CAB to help with that in mind. Anyone else on the Board could be the Chair as well, but I really appreciate that I was asked. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Contact the MAP Outreach Team at (401) 455-6402 or memory@butler.org.
Quiroa says he’s learned quite a bit from the experience about the complexities of encouraging a proactive approach to Alzheimer’s among multicultural communities.
“The whole concept of memory loss can be tricky in different cultural communities. For example, in the Latino community once you question memory, everyone wants to run away from that. One of the terms used in Spanish culturally is ‘losing their head’ or going crazy – it carries a very negative connotation.”
“It’s been interesting to learn from others on the Board that it’s very similar in the African American community, particularly among African immigrants who are still newcomers to the U.S. It’s also true for indigenous communities. There’s this taboo where nobody wants to talk about it, but when others outside the community try to come in and raise awareness and implement change there’s this fear of losing cultural control.”
“On the CAB we all come from organizations that those communities already trust. They don’t want to go to hospitals or research centers at colleges, or anything like that. They feel intimidated or that they won’t be welcome. Of course, that’s not going to be the case, but people have these perceptions.”
“The CAB is hugely important to being able to tap into these communities, and also ensure that they have eyes and ears at the table as well. For example, we’re helping MAP to recruit for the AHEAD study, an Alzheimer’s prevention study, at the senior center right now. How would these communities know about that opportunity if the grassroots organizations they trust didn’t tell them?”
“We have to make sure our community organizations stay active on this issue, and that we in turn look around our own neighborhoods and invite them to get involved, and for their own community leaders to be part of the CAB. This is very important work that has to be done. The more people involved, the more reach our message will have and the more people will be informed and ultimately, the more lives could be changed.”