Ncoha Alzheimer's Healthcare Providers

Alzheimer's Healthcare Provider, Lupita Silva
McAllen, TX
M: Moderator
H.P.: Healthcare Provider
M: Hi, can you introduce yourself and tell me where you’re working
H.P.: My name is Lupita Silva, and I work with ProCare Health Services
M: Thank you for taking the time to complete the interview for the study of Alzheimer’s. I want to start talking about the perception among healthcareproviders regarding patients' knowledge and perception of Alzheimer’s. What is your perception regarding knowledge among your Hispanic older adults patients?
H.P.: I believe it would be knowledge deficit.
M: Do Hispanic older adults know what about Alzheimer's?
H.P.: I don't believe so; I don't believe that's something that's even talked about in the household
M: Do they know the risk factorsassociated with Alzheimer’s?
H.P.: No, they don't.
M: How about the symptoms of Alzheimer’s?
H.P.: No, I don't believe they know the symptoms of Alzheimer's
M: Do they know about the complications about Alzheimer's?
H.P.: No, ma'am, they don't.
M: Do they know about treatments of Alzheimer's?
H.P.: No, they don't. I believe there's a lack of, definitely, of education.
M: Do they ask questionsabout Alzheimer's disease?
H.P.: No
M: Is having knowledge regarding Alzheimer's influencing them to get screened for Alzheimer's symptoms?
H.P.: I believe so, once they are introduced and educated and have the knowledge of Alzheimer's. They are more willing to get tested for Alzheimer's and have a medical evaluation.
M: What is your perception regarding attitudes about Alzheimer's screeningsamong Hispanic older adults patients?
H.P.: I believe the first would be denial, they're in denial.
M: What is their attitude when they are told they need to get screened for Alzheimer's symptoms?
H.P.: They're scared, feared.
M: Is there a difference outlook regarding Alzheimer’s detection among men and women?
H.P.: I believe so; women are more willing to get assessed versus the men.
M: Iwant to talk about the perception about Alzheimer's among Hispanic older adults patients. What do you perceive are the factors keeping your patients from getting screened for Alzheimer’s symptoms?
H.P.: The first factor would be lack of education, not enough education in our area, in our Latin community.
M: And the other factors?
H.P.: The other factors would be financial, lack of finances, youknow, the costs, they don't have the proper insurance for that. So finances would definitely be a big factor, as well as lack of knowledge and education.
M: As a health provider, what do you believe is the greatest contribution you can make to help Hispanic older adults to identify the symptoms of Alzheimer’s?
H.P.: I think the first thing would be to educate the Latin community to have freehealth screening for them, with education, also pay attention to their feelings when they're discussing the fear of being tested for Alzheimer's and communicating with them the importance of Alzheimer's screening and being very sensitive to their culture as well, but one thing that's very important is education and maybe providing free screening in the different communities where they live.
M: Whatdo you think is the greatest contribution made by the healthcare settings in helping Hispanic older adults be screened for Alzheimer’s?
H.P.: One thing would be education, informing the community, that would be the first thing that I believe would be the greatest contribution as a healthcare provider, that we could make for our patients, to educate them, and educating them so they would not havethe fear and work with them through those fears to help them cope with their fears that they might be experiencing.
M: What do you perceive could help Latinos to get diagnosed early?
H.P.: I think that what would help would be pre-screening, that would be one of the things that would definitely help them.
M: Any other thing?
H.P.: That pretty much educating them in their community, providing...