Sudbury, Ont. researchers studying dementia in Indigenous populations

Two researchers working in Sudbury, Ont. have received a million dollar investment from the Canadian Institute of Health Research to help try and address the needs of Indigenous peoples living with dementia.

Janet McElhaney is looking at combining Indigenous practices with Western technologies to help caregivers supporting older Indigenous people with dementia, while Jennifer Walker is developing a cognitive assessment tool to aid in a national study of dementia in Indigenous populations.

"The whole idea around this is to work with individual communities but have the lessons learned to to be able to roll this out as a cross-Canada strategy for indigenous people with dementia," McElhaney said.

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The research aims to address the needs of Indigenous peoples living with — or those at risk of developing — dementia.

"Understanding how dementia works, and how it shows up in different populations is relevant to all populations," Walker said.

"So, having an approach that adapts to different cultural settings is really the goal."

McElhaney does her research out of Health Sciences North in Sudbury, while Jennifer Walker is at Laurentian University.