Common Loss looks at how dementia is viewed and cared for by a variety of cultural groups in Hamilton and Halton. In this episode: how mealtimes, food and its preparation connect us emotionally and socially, even as memory fades. Dr. Heather Keller is a Professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the Univeristy of Guelph. On October 30, 2008 she gave a public lecture at St. John's Anglican Church in Ancaster, Ontario. She spoke about how import the rituals of preparing and enjoying food together are to creating a sense of worth, belonging and continuity in those living with memory loss. She then took questions from the audience. Look for the next podcast in the series coming soon and please consider subscribing to this series to get the next one as soon as we launch it.
Running Time: 1:13
Host: Wayne MacPhail

 Mahbuba Hokaky came to Canada from Afghanistan in 1994 after escaping with her husband and two young daughters from a violent faction for whom educated women, and especially female doctors like Mahbuba were anathema. She arrived with no English, little money and facing a future a world apart from the one she imagined for her family. Now, years later she wants to study at Mohawk College in the cultural interpreter program to help the Alzheimer Society of Hamilton and Halton bring an understanding of dementia to her people. She joined in me the Society’s offices in the west of Hamilton and discusses the gap between healthcare in the country she left behind in Canada and the shame dementia brings on an Afghani family.

Running time: 23 min. / 24 Mb
Host: Wayne MacPhail

Gabriela Luchsinger is a registered social worker here in Hamilton, in Southern Ontario. In 1973 Gabriela and her family fled Chile after the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, who founded a brutal dictatorship that held sway in Chile until 1990.

Gabriela's husband had been jailed and narrowly escaped a death that was visited up friends, colleagues and family members. Gabriella spoke with me about those memories and the role that memory plays in her culture.

Running time: 30 min. / 24 Mb
Host: Wayne MacPhail

 Xiaorong Wang, Lisa Wang to her Western friends, is a health educator for Public Health Services in Hamilton. She speaks to the Chinese community about health issues, writes for Chinese language newspapers and was one of the translators for Dr. Paul Fraser's talk we featured in Episode One.

In this episode, speaking with host Wayne MacPhail, Lisa makes it clear that, for many Chinese Canadians, dementia is not differentiated from mental health issues. And, like them, is stigmatized and not spoken of outside a close family circle. So, while it is okay to be physically infirm, it is seen as shameful not to have full mental capacity, for whatever reason. That means much of the caregiving is performed by extended families who rarely speak of the burden. 
Running time: 20 minutes / 21 Mb
Host: Wayne MacPhail

As promised, we're starting off this series with a recording of a public lecture by Dr. Paul Fraser, Principal Investigator, Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CRND), University of Toronto.

Dr. Fraser's talk was titled "Alzheimer's Disease On the Road to Recovery" and was, as billed, translated into Vietnamese, Arabic, Mandarin, Somali and French.

He gave a wonderful United Nations of an audience an introduction to the causes of dementia, our understanding of the mechanisms of dementia and most optimistically, the hopes for treatment including a new wave of vaccines that could stave off the mind and memory destroying amyloid proteins that are the main culprits in dementia.

And, now, here's that talk, delivered to you via the miracle of podcasting. Hope you enjoy it. Look for the next episode of Common Loss coming in about a month.

Dr. Paul Fraser was recorded January 30 at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario. He was introduced by CH Television's Connie Smith. You can find more photos of the evening here.

Running time: 1 hour, 21 minutes / 93 Mb
Host: Wayne MacPhail

1:25 sec. promo for our the upcoming Common Loss podcast from the Alzheimer Society of Hamilton and Halton. This podcast series is part of our the ASHH's 25th anniversary celebrations. Please visit our main site at http://alzheimer.interlynx.net/.

We're one of 39 chapters in the Alzheimer Society of Ontario.