Hello and good afternoon afterno on behalf of myself and 54 we extend a warm and Hearty welcome to each of you present at 54 no Center here in Nashville today we are excited to celebrate women’s History Month by honoring the incredible Legacy of black Greek sororities in the United States in
Their service as so many communities serving so many communities in so many different ways many of you know me my name is Renee Jenkins and I am a former 54d board member as well as a member of Delta Sigma Theta sority Incorporated and I am proud to say that this year I will
Celebrate 20 years as a member of the national alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated my father taught me in the the importance of giving back to the community as a small child so my adult years was spent in organizations and on boards where I could and did support a
Mission Ministry that gave voice to those who do not have a voice founded in 1956 54 supports Champions and enhances life for those 50 and older and serves close to 20,000 older adults annually through a wide variety of programs and services 54 is also a proud National Community engagement partner for the
National Institutes of Health all of us research program if you haven’t yet heard all of us seeks to change the future of Health Care by advancing Precision medicine specifically the program is seeking one million people from diverse backgrounds to volunteer and share their health information helping researchers
Find better treatments and cures for us all over 750,000 have enrolled so far with 80% of those coming from under represented communities you can learn more and even join by visiting the website of join allof us.org forward so your presence today is appreciated and applauded as we celebrate not only outstanding women but
Black sororities the accomplishments of all of them and of 5 forward I’d like to have a moment of privilege and ask that all members all of my Denine sisters my divine nine sisters please [Applause] stand blessed with the gifts of humor and wit balance with a brilliant mind for communicating through the
Arts Crystal Joy our special guest MC for today has a unique ability to command the stage whether she is teaching about dramatic Ministry Mistress of Ceremonies of an event teaching the artistic Community or teaching about financial management her creative and bold delivery cannot be ignored Crystal earned a degree in broadcasting and
Telecommunications has training in Social Work counseling and finished her formal training with a master’s in administration and education in addition she is trained as a life living in financial Excellence Financial literary coach to help families live financially stressfree I think we all need to sign up for that her versatile background includes
Teacher in public schools and at the college level radio personality television and film actress drama writer and producer facilitator of financial literacy product developer and writer of curriculum and books recently Crystal was appointed as an ordained [Applause] minister as an accomplished author her recently released book titled who art in heaven
And art is all capitalized conceptual strategy of arts and academics for Ministry leaders is now available as an ebook or in paperback on multiple sites as well as Amazon please join me in welcoming Crystal Joy [Applause] thank you is she beautiful yes everybody looks fabulous I am excited to be here this
Afternoon I always have a tendency to say morning uh thank you Miss Jenkin I appreciate it for that warm introduction as a proud Al for myself I am excited to be with you all and celebrate the legacy of black Greek sororities today uh since we are here for women’s History Month
Yay let’s start by sharing some history on how these sororities each came to be part of the Divine n everybody say Divine n Divine see I love how you said that everybody’s the Divine N is a name that honors the nine historically black Greek letter organizations that comprise the national pan hel
Helenic Council these nine organizations have a significant place in Black American history and culture collectively these organizations comprise nearly 4 million members they are are a source of family and Community to many students with some first generation members and others joining as a legacy the divine nine organizations
Have been around since the early 1900s and have contributed greatly to American culture they are committed to Public Service scholarship and brother and Sisterhood divine nine Traditions have trickled down through generations of members and even infiltrated pop culture everybody say pop culture po cult all right the Divine Nine’s impact
On American life and culture is very apparent today we are proud to welcome representatives from each of the four black Greek sororities that help make up the Divine n that’s Alpha C Alpha sorority Incorporated Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated Sigma garoo sorority Incorporated and Zeta 5 Beta
Sorority Incorporated now as I read a brief history of each organization we’ll ask for that featured panelist to please join me on stage okay okay we will go in Alpha order everybody say Alpha order Alpha order oh I love it you all should be singing in
The choir okay first up is alphaa Alpha sorority Incorporated established on January 15th 1908 at Howard University in Washington DC Alpha Kappa Alpha emerged as the first Greek letter organization founded by black college women Ethel hedgman Lyle a Howard student aspired to create a suppor supportive uh Network for women sharing similar goals
To uplift one another and leverage their talents for the greater good isn’t that wonderful collaborating with several other women ly initiated the drafting of a constitution and finalized the official name model and colors alphaa Alpha’s Mission includes working to cultivate and encourage High Scholastic and ethical standards promote unity and
Friendship ship among college women and to be of service to all mankind a that nine okay Delta Sigma Theta soror Incorporated is a historically africanamerican too see they stand out strong honey cuz she sits in her own table she everybody else okay I love her you look beautiful absolutely gorgeous
The organization was found founded by college educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African-American Community Delta Sigma Theta was founded on January 13th 1913 by 22 women at Howard University membership is open to any woman regardless of religion race or nationality Delta cth of sorority is
Committed to the constructive development of its members and to public service with a primary focus on the black community cool be I love it and the colors look gorgeous too all right next up Sigma gamma Roo sorority Incorporated uh sigaro sorority Incorporated was founded on November 12th 1922 at Butler University in
Indianapolis Indiana by seven female Educators Sigma gamaro sorority’s uh mission is to enhance the quality of life for women with their families in the US and globally through community service and civil and social action and rounding us out is Zeta incorpor Charles Taylor a member of f beta sness fraternity approached how University
Student Arizona student Arizona Cleaver about her interest in forming a sister organization despite the presence of two sororities on Howard’s campus Cleaver believed there was room for one more following discussions a meeting convened and resulted in the decision to establish a new organization Zeta F beta swiftly obtained approval from Howard
University marking the beginning of the campus’s third black sority on January 16th 1920 there was a lot going on in the early point zifi of sorority is built on the ideals of scholarship service Sisterhood and a finer Womanhood yes T and members serve and advocate for Justice at home and abroad let’s welcome the [Applause] ladies I will now thank you all so much I will now read a short bile to introduce each of our featured panelists then we’ll jump in with our questions now representing the Alpac cap Alpha
Sorority is Miss Kesha green Kisha green has over 26 years of experience as a registered nurse and holds an MBA with a concentration in health health care administration she is a certified professional in Health Care Quality quit playing now a certified electronic health records specialist a certified professional in health care
Risk management and is she what certified in health care compliance Kesha is a spring 2021 initiate in Alpha cap Alpha Incorporated she currently serves as the first vice president of the UPS Salon s Omega chapter uh thank you so much for joining us now we have his D
Star the sophisticated one it just came from okay dthy stars of Delta sigmaa soror is a native nashvillian uh the eighth of nine children wow hat off to your parents okay she attended Napier Elementary El Cameron Junior High and graduated from Pearl Senior High School M Stars was matriculated at Tennessee State
Tennessee a and all right I State College better tell me was right now Tennessee State University I feel some briide in the room I’m M at you from which she earned both her BS and master’s degrees uh she taught in Metro Public Schools God bless you for
35 years I did five years and I found the exit it worked not the children out wonderful okay then worked as editor of children’s theater at the literature literature she said I’m not acting okay children’s literature at the Sunday school public boy thank you for correcting USA uh Inc after retiring
From Metro man you’ve been busy yes my God she is also a member of Spruce Street Baptist Church ma’ all right all right can we get an A elction all right all right representing Sigma G Ro soror is Reverend Dr Patricia Brock [Applause] W all she going bring a word in a minute
Okay Reverend Brock holds the BS and Ma education degree Masters in Education degree from of course Tennessee State University a master’s of divinity uh degree from Vanderbilt University Divinity School and a master of divinity uh and doctor of Ministry degrees from lipom University Hazel lip is that right
Haz hazelip okay School of Theology Reverend Brock was an educator at John Overton High School and Maplewood High School where she also served as computer coordinator principal designate assistant principal curriculum principal advisor and alphabetic discipline principle and she’s running for President pleas had it going on she was also an ed professor at American Baptist College in addition to her career as an educator Reverend Brock was lead chaplain at HCA Southern Hills Hospital and is an ordained and licensed minister of the Temple Church Reverend Brock is a a former southeastern region
Chaplain of Sigma gamar Rosa rity Inc she was also a member of the board of directors for inside Counseling Center and serves as an education board member for the League of Women Voters okay it is official you get a triple Applause I’m right now Shazam I
Know it’s like okay I don’t think I’ve done enough yet all right stifi Beta sorority Incorporated Miss Lisa Jones that sounds like an actress doesn’t it it is it is a native of Mount Pleasant Mississippi Lisa M Jones serves as the tremendous Tennessee History coordinator is a researcher and writer and serves as
A Committee Member of the international history history team of Zeta Beta sorority Inc Lisa became a member of Zeta Beta sorority Inc at the age of 18 and is a charter member of the Sigma Chai Zeta chapter of Rutherford County Lisa holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of
Mississippi had a master’s degree from Tennessee State University everybody say do all right she is currently employed in the field of animal research at mahary Medical College in Nashville Tennessee of course Lisa has been an active member of Zeta 5 beta Sor Incorporated for 38 uninterrupted years and no stop it Now all right welcome ladies thank you thank you so much for being here we have a few questions we’d like to ask of each of you if you don’t mind and again we’ll go in Alpha order and ask that you please pass our designer mic from one
Person to the next after you speak okay all right here we go almost feel like I’m on that what is that uh game show never mind all right okay first please tell us a little about your sorority and what made you want to play well miss MC you just told us all a
Lot about but Alpha Kappa Alpha is an international service organization it was founded on a cus of power university January 15th 1908 it is the first the first and finest Greek letter organization established by africanamerican college educated women we have more than 360,000 members with graduate and undergraduate
Chapters in 12 countries in addition to the mission of fostering a Sisterhood AKA was founded on a mission of service to all mankind it’s that mission that of fostering a Sisterhood and um making it life better for all mankind is what caused me to want to be an AKA
As you excuse as you’ve heard myor is Delta sign Incorporated it was founded in 1913 by 22 college women also at Howard University these 22 students wanted to use their Collective Strength to promote academic excellence and provide assistance to those in need and by the
Time we get to our s our panelist Lisa you’ll see that all the work have the same goal public service and AC its members are predominantly black college educated women since it’s founding more than 200,000 women and Jo we have over 1,000 collegate and alumni chapters located in the United
States Nassau Bahamas Germany Haiti Liberian and the Virgin Islands Delta is a nonprofit organization with a fivepoint programmatic Thrust those being Economic Development educational development political awareness and involvement physical and mental health International awareness and involvment now the second part of the question was what prompted me to want to
Become B when I was a graduating senior at Pearl High School Six Women called all the females to the auditorium to talk to us about what it meant to be these women did such a thorough job of enlightening us about what it meant to being a and on top of that they were
Some of the most attractive and well and dignified and they were just beautiful on the inside and the out and I decided right there that I wanted to be so that’s what made me decide that I wanted to be [Applause] a why do I want to
Say when she before she spoke okay I’ll be I’ll be good Sigma R Sigma R Incorporated was founded in Indianapolis Indiana on the campus of Butler University we are the only africanamerican sorority that did not have its founding at how nothing on how we a across we are we were established in
1922 by seven young ladies at bun University however during that time segregation was the way of the world so they met secretly and off campus to to get our sorority organized they uh were harassed but they stuck with the idea that Butler needed africanamerican women and students on that campus so we were
Organized at buckler my reason of our Mantra Mantra is greater greater service greater progress we offer services to the community in Social Action political action health for Women Health for children we do a little bit of everything the all of us program is not new to me because we’ve talked about
That in Sigma Ro for a while now so we’re about the same thing as the other organizations making sure our Comm communities get the services that they need education is one of our big mantras we believe in education all of our members are either undergraduate Soros or graduate
Soros and um we too have we’re the youngest let me put that that we are the youngest African-American female sorority that was formed we’re the babies of the group but we hang with with our big sisters we we do that so uh we just turned 100 years old in [Applause]
2022 and we’re proud of that it was hard work we had our Boule our Centennial Boule and it was a fun time on the campus of Butler they indeed now know that we are there we exist so Butler knows who we are my reason for joining Sigma Garo is much
Like the other ladies you see an organization and you look at it you kind of go through and you you look at what they’re doing maybe what they’re not doing and you make your decision I made my decision to pledge Sigma Garo because it fit
Me um so now my daughter is is a Sigma I have two nieces that are sigmas and my older sister is a sigma so that Legacy has formed in Sigma gamma Ro one of the things that makes us all kind of Stand Out is the sorority doesn’t end when you
Graduate from college we keep it going we keep it moving because the work doesn’t end when we graduated from college it continues so we feel like you need us we need you to make our communities better um that’s that’s it in a nutshell for me I’ll pass it to my
Sister let’s give her a [Applause] hand I guess I have to say of course a have as a former school teacher you always want to stand up you you can’t um 104 years ago Zeta F Sor incorporation was founded on the campus of Howard University with five beautiful
Collegian students who made a decision that they wanted to impact their Community the community service because we are a community service action oriented organization that is our key focus is to Embark and and reach out to our community we stand on the principles of scholarship Sisterhood and Final hood
That is the one thing that Z sority Incorporated has part of their principles is final Womanhood final Womanhood it’s something that it is a life style is how you choose to live but that principle falls on the one thing of our faith and we’re grounded on that
Through proverbs 31 and we walk that Journey the in 1920 these five young ladies met in M Hall on har campus just like everybody else did so I guess it was probably the girls Dory at the time and they had an opportunity to put together a vision but
That Vision was pulled and presented to one of our Founders by our fraternity Brothers FAA City fraternity we are the only constitutionally bound sority and fraternity so therefore that just means that we are legally sisters and brothers we uh we walk together in a journey that allows us to serve our
Community and love our sisters as well as love our divine n sisters as well as we choose to have final Womanhood in the process of doing all of that the second part of the question is a lot of people ask L why you choose zet to Incorporated I tell people that Zeta chose
Me because I took an opportunity to be able to lay on my face and ask God what is my purpose what is it that you would like to see me do how can I take what he has given me and pour into someone else and I was able to do that through zet
Sority and most people go to the meeting so that they can get the applications and everything I sent somebody to go get mine in with all that being said me being able to pour into Zeta faett soror who has over 800,000 members as of today and this organization being found
By five undergraduates who had a vision that was bigger than many us could believe and they left a legacy I’m proud to say that I’m I see planning for a legacy I have nieces my daughter my sister um are members of zity Incorporated and I’m very proud to
Say that and here being in Tennessee I’ve been here in Tennessee for over 30 years I’ve been a member of Zeta for 38 years and as an 18y old I understand how those five young ladies decided that I want to do this and I’ve been as stated
Um here in Tennessee Tennessee is now 100 years old with membership in Sai sorority and we just finished our Cent history group celebrating that 100 years this month be 101 years is it amazing the1 you look so good I love good thank you so much ladies got one or two more questions uh
What was Greek life like for you and can you tell us you know share your favorite memories from your S I actually didn’t experience traditional Greek life um as an undergraduate student I was initiated into the sorority through a graduate chapter as a undergraduate you see the
Signs and you go to the information session and you learn about the the sorority in The Graduate chapter you have to be invited you can’t say I want to be an AKA and AKA has to see you and say you should be in AKA and so you know
I didn’t experience a traditional but I love the way that I came in uh one of my favorite memories is going through the membership experience with a group of ladies who rang from early 20s to mid 50s I’m mids early 20s to mid 50s but we somehow
Came together as if we were you know didn’t have those gaps in in ages and in an experience so that was um I guess my most movable and favorite part of becoming an I love it I love it our president everybody uh Greek life I’m similar to
Her I didn’t experience excuse me the normal Greek life because I didn’t live on campus always wanted to on C we couldn’t afford so Greek life has given me a sense of belonging and connectivity I lived in the city and roded the bus to an after being
Initiated into this Ro I looked forward to arriving on campus every morning meeting my sisters going to their dormitories studying together and just hanging out after all we were undergrads 18 and 19 years old so no in the alumni chapter one of my favorite memories is when our chapter
Collaborated with habitat for herand and built two houses for need oh wonderful she builds house too y’all I too came in through red CH and this is my 43rd year as a member of Sigma Gall Road sorority I’m hanging in here y’all I’m trying to make 50 49 and a half one
Too 50 sounds great to me uh I enjoy being a part or coming into the Sor um actually my niece was part of the a graduate chapter before I came in and she is a 50e Sor it was fun for me my daughter’s experience was the campus
Experience and uh I love hearing her stories about stepping and Boots um go boots now you got to have go boots uh and all of the things that they did on campas so those are my m and hers are sort of entangled my greatest moment was
And actually I have two so I should say moments was when I pinned my daughter you can’t take that away from me when she crossed I pinned her and I am forever grateful for that and my second most uh happiest experience is when as a graduate and as a Chaplain in
My chapter our regional president contacted me and asked me to serve as the regional chap chaplain for the entire southeastern region which covers Six States two islands and well three hour we’ve added one for me as a female in Ministry they could not have done anything to make me happier being a
Female even ordained minister is still difficult for women so I remember telling my uh Regional president I said you gave me something that men could never give me I am the minister the chaplain for women all over the southeastern region and no one can take that from me I simply loved
Him I served for four years that’s that’s as long as as my term could be and it was amazing I actually had my own church it just stretched out over all of these states and into the islands can’t take that away from [Applause] me I became a member on the campus of
The University of Mississippi where a lot of first things were happening the first black this and the first black children and the first black uh um male children things like that that was taking place the first black major R and it was it was different however what I gained the
Most from becoming a member on on the campus was that I became a nucleus a part of a nuc of young ladies that were a part of the first and that meant a lot to me one of the reason reasons uh I as I stated why I
Chose and say this but it also gave me an opportunity to be able to pour into our undergraduates as a undergraduate coming as a member as becoming a member as an undergraduate and as I continue to grow in s that was one of the greatest gifts
That I I think that could have been bestowed upon me our Tennessee state director at that time was was s Ernestine Wilson who was eventually our state director and our regional director she called me one day and she said Lisa I would like for you to be over the undergraduates for the state
Of Tennessee and with me already and saying God I want to be able to pour back into I was given an opportunity to be able to pour into young college students female college students to impact their lives not just for being within the sorority but something that they can take with
Them the rest of their lives and so God answered that prayer for me so that being in that position I was in that position for six years then that moved me when she moved to be the regional director she asked me to be over the regional under graduate which mean I would cover
Four states Mississippi Alabama Arkansas and Tennessee where I’m still pouring into young ladies and teaching them the importance on how to stand on the word of God as well as to be that final woman so that was opportunities to be able to the next thing that was really really
Important to me was me Penny both my sister and my daughter and that’s as you stated that’s something you can’t take away that Legacy to be able to pin your children and your sister it was truly a blessing is that amazing I love it we’re going to have
One last question so we can give our speakers an opportunity uh to speak as well all right what would you say to your younger African-American women now considering Greek life so uh being a member of the sorority creates a Sisterhood for for all of us but it also makes one a member
Of what you talked about earlier and that’s the divine nine I’m not going to repeat what that is but being a being a part of that let me just say sometimes it really will open doors and opportunities for you that might otherwise not be available to you now I
Can’t say that from my corporate office desk but I can say it here that when I’m interviewing people when I’m talking um about programs that we want people to participate in when I’m making a decision I do consider when I hear that there is a divine nine person sitting
Across from me so it does allow you to be a part of a bigger organization not just the sorority that you join that can open opportunities I love the connectedness isn’t that wonderful okay if I were going to give advice to a young lady considering becom joining
Us I would invise and encourage them to consider a that stresses high moral standards higher education public service and to be committed and we join a lot of clubs so forth because it’s the thing at the time but in AO you make a lifetime commit also iise them of the fact that
Greef life can be very expensive I have been a member of Delta SE 70 [Applause] Years I would say to a young lady if you’re interested in becoming a part of something that lasts all your life Greek life and being in a sorority is for you that’s something that you do as you just heard 70 years 40 40 years we’re working
On a legacy that that shows how much we care about what we do it’s not a party it’s not stepping I mean that that happens sometimes but it’s about the community at large being in a sorority it requires discipline um lots of discipline it requires that education be
At the top of of of your scale because we need to be educated and again that’s one of those things that once you get it it yours and it will take you as far as you allow it to so I would I would impress upon a
Young lady that it’s more than what you see sometimes what we just see with our eyes we bece but you have to delve into what is it really about what does it do how does it serve the community and where do you fit in it’s kind of difficult sitting here
In this chair at the end after you hear all of this wisdom and everything that I would say they’ said it so we’re gonna say ditto to that okay but one of the things that I would like to say and what I would share with any young lady is first and foremost I
Identify and Define and know who you are first knowing who you are first before you choose to be a part of anyone’s Greek letter organization because what we do as a Greek letter organization we’re going to find tune whatever that is that God has already instilled in place within you so
That would be the first thing know who you are know what you want to do we’re here to support you to get there it is a network that will allow us to embrace one another not just for a moment in time but for a lifetime and that they
Have to understand as they said it can get expense but at the same time we provide you with tools to in order to help you to be able to maintain your finances teach you how to to interact with the community helped you how to give back
And so those are things that they as stated we want to make sure that you want to make sure that you want to give back because we’re about service all of us are here about service but knowing first and foremost who you are and what
You want to do for yourself that will be the first step I would suggest that you take and then see how we can help enhance that by embracing you to be a part of what our Founders have put in place aren’t they [Applause] magnificent wonderful wonderful thank
You ladies thank you and now we’d like to transition to the well-being and social connectedness program uh portion of the program uh this is where we’d like to hear from you R staying involved in our communities through women’s groups like these amazing sororities is so important for
Our health now with a few of you just two would be good uh in the audience who are sorority members like to stand up and share how staying involved in their sororities has enhanced their lives please raise your hand and the microphone will be brought to you hey we
Have one over here she she didn’t even wait she like talk to me hello everyone um very often as the ladies have said experiencing sorority life as um an undergrad or graduate is fantastic but a lot of times when we retire we plan financially hopefully for retirement we’re excited about
Retirement but we don’t think about the psychological part of planning for retirement so one thing that I can say is that um my sorority Alpha cap Alpha sorority after I retired I am continuing to work and stay busy be active I’ll be involved giving back and that that has
Been everything for me because my I’m an extrovert and my husband’s an introvert so I was kind of thinking that you know we would do this thing together you know far as Retirement but he would on the golf course and doing his thing and so then having the sorority really helped
Me to continue to be active be involved in the community and have that Sisterhood um like they’re talking about for a lifetime that was [Applause] wonderful so one more one more come on sweetheart I know there’s something deep on your heart you want to say no more all right well we’ll just
Keep it rolling all right thank you so much for sharing SAR thank you thank you thank you that was awesome uh to our panelists let’s give them a hand pleas pleas so please all that your well they snatched that up quick wow okay all right so as they’re going back
To their tables let’s give them a hand again now it’s time for our health talk feature of the program where we’ll be highlighting some important women’s health issues and the research that is ongoing to address them I’m delighted to introduce Dr Gretchen Campbell from cas CA neurology to speak to this Dr
Campbell was born and raised in Birmingham Alabama the eldest child of a family deeply rooted in education from the tender age of two her mother a retired school teacher with over 30 years of experience foresaw her future as a doctor with a brother who served honorably in the Army for over 22 years
Before owning a diagnostic Lab company in Tennessee good Lord this family power a sister practicing Neurology in Atlanta wow and another brother embracing the free spirited lifestyle in Texas Dr Campbell that’s probably one of my buddies Dr campell’s uh family embodies diversity and ambition married to an electrical engineer who
Transitioned into management Dr Campbell and her husband husband nurtured their family with care they are proud parents of two accomplished daughters one a graduate of the University of Miami and the other a graduate of Texas Christian University Dr Campbell’s journey to becoming a doctor began at M Medical
College where she earned her medical doctorate followed by specialized training in urology at the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Comm love University after honing her skills for five years as an associate professor of clinical neurology at zville University Dr you didn’t go to no uh Ri Ra
School I’m sorry let’s bring it back Dr Campbell co-founded KCA neurology today KCA neurology stands as a testament to her dedication with three thriving locations across Tennessee providing Compassionate Care to countless patients I love it Dr Campbell’s unwavering commitment to her patients and her community continues to shape the landscape of neuro
Neurological care in the region please join me my goodness you doing it girl please join me in welcoming Dr grechen Campbell thank you for having me and I would be remiss if I did not also say that I am also an ala ala Sigma Sigma CH in at the University of
Alabama my mother also is an AKA play at and University of course and my younger daughter is also AKA from Texas Christian University I had to I had to get that up so when I was asked to give this presentation on women’s health it was a little bit difficult because I don’t do
Women’s health per se I’m a neurologist not primary care but um I’ve given it t a couple of times here about dementia so I figured um with this being a different audience for the most part that I would do that but would they focus on women because there are some differences when
It comes to Alzheimer’s disease um but first okay to um but first the main thing I want to make sure that everyone gets out of this is because I get ask this all the time that all dementia is not Alzheimer’s disease when we use the term dementia
It’s an umbrella term and there are lots of different types of dementia the purpose of the workup is to exclude reversible causes of memory loss and then with some other tests we arrive at a diagnosis of dementia and nowadays we can be more specific about making that
Diagnosis so when you first go to a doctor for an evaluation of memory loss there are some things that should happen um there should be basic blood work because sometimes something as simple as a B12 can be low and that can affect your memory if your thid is low or too
High that can affect your memory depression is a cause of cognitive impairment so much so that it has its own name we call it pseudo dementia so it’s really important that we exclude these um things before we make an make a diagnosis of dementia although they’re not mutually exclusive these things will
Worsen you know the condition if you do end up being diagnosed with that um drug induced cognitive impairment a lot of people are on a lot of medications so you know we try to minimize that to the extent that we can but sometimes it’s difficult you know if I have someone
With diabetic neuropathy and they’re on Lyrica and that’s the only thing that can control their discomfort you know it gets a little bit tricky because if I take them off of it and they can’t sleep at night it’s they’re not going to be really happy with me but those things can affect one’s
Memory now what are the types of dementia there are a lot of types like I alluded to before but the most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s dementia representing over 60% of all cases of some estimate up to 80% of all cases of dementia the second most common type is
Vascular dementia and that’s caused by either multiple Strokes or a lot of what we call white matter changes where you get those little tiny spots that accumulate over time and start to overlap and then look like large swaps of f on the brain MRI that can also
Cause a type of dementia called vascular dementia but what’s interesting is that women are at a bit of a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease representing about 2third of cases compared to men and African-American women have about doubled the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease over the course of their lifetime and while we’re
Not exactly sure why that is in terms of African-American women some of it has to do with coorbit risk factors because there are other things that can increase your risk like cardiovascular disease untreated hypertension untreated depression I mean depression in and of itself is a risk factor for going on to
Develop um Alzheimer’s disease so it’s really important to keep up with your visits with your primary care doctor or if you’re specifically concerned about your memory seeing a specialist in that area like me or someone that does what I do one of the re there are several reasons
Why women are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease during the course of their life um we live longer and age is one of the highest risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease with the risk doubling about every five years after the age of 65 so the older we get
The higher the odds are that we’re going to get it so just simply aging is a risk and we live women live longer than men on average so that alone is increases our risk for getting demena um hormonal differences and menopause there’s some honestly you would think there would be
More research in this area there’s not a whole lot of research on how hormone affects the brain but there is a little bit and we’ll talk about that um in a second genetic risk factors there women so there’s a genetic risk called apoe that some of you may have heard of and
I’ll talk about that a little bit later but women tend to be more sensitive to the AO e homozyg for cor a which is a highrisk version of it than men are and we don’t exactly know why but we’re a little bit more sensitive to it if we
Have that particular um Gene subtype and women are at higher risk for depression so all these things are conspire together to increase our risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease so menopause and Alzheimer’s disease this is interesting because it’s not something we’re taught in medical school it’s not something we’re taught in
Residency most obes don’t really know a whole lot about menopause and how it affects cognition but there’s a whole diagnosis called called menopause related cognitive impairment like it has its own name and so when I started learning about there was this it was very validating because I’m not going crazy
Literally no one talks about it no one tells you what to expect it’s like you hear about the hot flashes you hear about the moon swings but no one tells you about what it does to your brain and it does a lot men’s Brains and women’s Brains are different we have mostly
Estrogen receptors in our brain men have testosterone receptors in their brain so when that estrogen level starts to fall we’re not hitting those receptors in the brain that we knew that we need for our brain to function properly so it affects your cognition we we start to have short-term memory losss you know
Difficulties with naming things and you know you think you have the it’s just a big mess that is just not talked about at all so there’s this researcher that um saw there was sort of you know a dirt of information when it comes to women menopause and dementia
And she was looking for articles addressing it and there was nothing out there so what she did was an interesting study looking at premenopausal par menopausal and postmenopausal women and their pet scans and what she found was an actual difference so this is interesting okay so the red parts of the
The red parts of the brain are active areas where where you so the the brain uses glucose to to function properly so the right red areas are the areas that are using glucose right here you can see it’s this is the normal brain where all this is active use now this is blue
There because that’s where the ventricles are it’s not brain tissue there that’s where the spinal fluid lives inside the brain so that that’s supposed to be blue that’s not abnormal but when you get over to post menopausa women look at this wow I mean that’s a
That’s a big difference so the frontal L isn’t being act activated to the same the temporal loes even theal Lo down here is is different so we are not crazy this is like an actual like an actual thing so that you know it was very validating when I I saw
That but frustrating at the same time because there’s not a lot of research out there and there is in addition to that there’s not a lot of research in terms of giving One Direction in terms of what to do about it because we know that hormone you know we have horal
Replacement therapy that’s kind of a thing again after it was taken off the table for a while but what we’re not sure what we’re not sure of is whether estradiol progesterone you know when we take it exogenously improves cognition we just we we don’t know the answer to that question they’re different
Receptors for estrogen in the brain than are in other parts of the body so it’s just not it’s not that simple so research is still ongoing um to determine what type of estrogen the brain best responds to um but what we do know go backwards so but in addition to
Estrogen and progesterone these hormones are neuroprotective so when we start to you know when those hormones start to naturally decline not only does it affect what I just showed you but it affects the all areas of the brain because we don’t have that protection anymore at least not the protection from
What those particular hormones do so then what happens what happens after Mena do we come back up and go back to normal well it it depends so some women will you know dip param menopausa menopausa area and then kind of go back up maybe not to exactly where they were before
But they get better like you know the symptoms go away they feel like they can’t think more clearly and and things are fine but another subset of women don’t their memory changes at menopause and it doesn’t ever quite rebound and again more studies need to be
Done because so we can know how to manage that but we just you know women’s issues in in Alzheimer’s just haven’t been focused on so we don’t know the answer to that yet um how Okay so another note about hormone replacement therapy that I think that is
Interesting and people are not aware of but there was a large study I think like 18,000 women that was done um years ago about the risks of hormone replacement therapy in terms of stroke cardiovascular disease and all the other you know bad cancer but what people don’t realize and honestly what I didn’t
Realized initially is that all of those women in that study were over 65 so it didn’t even study the women that would be on hormones in the first place so of course your risk of cardiovasc high5 it just made no sense so you know more logical studies are starting to
Come out so that we know what to do in regard to managing hormones somebody Dro that um but I think hormones are great and if I weren’t on them I’d probably be en rolling heels right now so if you’re if you’re 65 you’re having issues I would go for
It what you don’t want to do is beyond hormones more than 10 years and typically doctors will stop it after the age of 65 but there are other there is another medication now that we use specifically for the vasogenic components of menopause like hot flashes that don’t have risk in terms of
Cardiovascular disease and that’s that’s new like last year so that you know so that that was nice you know that we have another option aside from hormones to stop the uh hot lashes so other risk factors lifestyle we all know is a risk factor for card for Alzheimer’s disease physical inactivity
Eating you know processed foods um you want to have a as best you can a Whole Foods Mediterranean based diet but you know no one’s perfect as long as we do it most of the time you’re fine you know I like the 8020 rule if you do it 80% of
The 80% of the time you’re fine 20% is not going to it’s not going to kill you you know you got to eat a birthday cake every now and again right um excessive alcohol consumption is a risk factor because the blood vessel respond to excessive alcohol use by trying to protect themselves building
Up plaque and that causes cardiovascular disease which increases the risk of dementia so just heart health obviously is important to to reducing your risk um genetics is um part of the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and there are several different there’s several different layers to to this some genes
That we look for are genes that coner RIS there are other genes that are actually autosomal dominant genes which means if you have this Gene you’re risk of getting it is nearly 100% we don’t typically test for those jeans because that type of Dimension is so rare
Um but everybody has a it’s just a matter of what your numbers are and I already mentioned aging as a risk factor from all um how do we prevent Cog decline just avoid those risk factors that I just went over um you want to exercise regularly and it doesn’t have to be
Anything structured just walking around the block is you know really enough um staying cognitively active doing things like this and I think that you know like I can’t remember what what Young AK my Sor back there said about being active in your sorority that is fabulous because I know they keep you
Busy so the busier you are the more um protected you are education is protective the higher your level of Education that’s a protection against developing Alzheimer’s disease it doesn’t prevent it but it’s you know we’re at lower risk the higher our level of education and just being active
People you know people that retire and go home and just watch Netflix or MSNBC or Fox you’re just asking for it if you don’t use it you’re going to lose it um if you’re smoking just stop there’s no good reason to do that I don’t have to beli that
Point yeah and the other thing that’s useful about being mentally active in you know graduate chapter you’re learning new things it’s you know it’s not it’s not just do the same puzzle over and over again you want to be cognitively active learning new things because that’s how you create those new
Neuronal connections and you know exercise that neuroplasticity you want to actually do something that’s new to you plus you’re up and walking around so that helps your balance and you know helps with your helps all sorts of things to be active not just in terms of reducing your risk of dementia but lots
Of other things so that’s really important in terms of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease everybody knows memory loss is one of them shortterm memory loss in particular but in the beginning it’s very you can’t tell so there’s this phase that we call Mild cognitive impairment where some people just sit
You know they may not ever progress from there but it’s a risk for going on to developing Alzheimer’s disease but that’s sort of a um Place marker kind of diagnosis while we’re getting the workup to determine more specifically what’s going on so we probably have heard those heard that
Term before MCI or mild experiment with Alzheimer’s disease it’s not just simple memory loss so for example you may lose your keys in your house but you shouldn’t find them in your refrigerator so if you find hot places that’s not that’s not good that’s just not there’s a whole lot that goes
On with that um difficulty with daily tasks so this would be you know things like let’s say you’re the person in the house that typically pays pays all the bills you’re the one that stays on top of all the financial things and you can’t do that anymore or you don’t
Realize it and you’re paying the same bill twice or you’re missing a bill Al together or you’re falling victims falling good complete scams all of those things can be signs of something more serious is going on and these scans are very sophisticated now so it’s almost a
Little hard to use that as an example these days but those are some examples okay of um things that was more concerning for rather than normal aging most people with Alzheimer’s have move and personality changes so someone that may have been pretty cooperative and also can get very irritable and
That’s not their based on personality that’s a symptom of Alzheimer’s normal ages so how do we make a diagnosis so these days we can well first of all you make sure you get a brain because you don’t want to miss again anything reversible and there are some reversible
Things that we can see we can only diagnose with a brain MRI like normal pressure hydis it can cause memory loss we treat it with a shun we miss that we that’s not good so if anyone makes a diagnosis of dementia and they’ve never looked at your brain you need to find
Somebody else um the other thing that we do nowadays we mentioned APO E before that’s one of the genetic tests that we do and AO e is a gene that provides instructions to make something called AO lipo protein e which moves colesterol around the body and there are three
Different types of apoe 2 three four you get one from each parent people that have two copies of four e four four are about 12 higher 12 higher in terms of risk of going on to develop alimer disease um 3 four the combination of one
Three and one4 are two to two to three times higher than um the general population for developing Alzheimer’s disease so it is a risk factor does not mean you’re going to get it and there are people that have it that don’t have a highrisk apoe so it’s not you know it
Doesn’t mean you’re going to get it but it’s a risk factor for it um the I’ve mentioned uh briefly that they’re genetic forms of Alzheimer’s disease and this is one that affects avoid precursor protein people that have a apparent with this have a 50/50 chance
Of getting this Gene and if they get the gene they have about 100% chance of going on to develop Alzheimer’s disease but again it’s rare and different and typically it starts very early like in a person’s 30s yeah so how do we treat Alzheimer’s dise um there are several medications that
Are oral on the market that some of you have heard of AOSP nenda are common medications that we use they affect neurotransmitters so that more of them are round so it helps improve short-term memory but last year a antibody was approved called L canab that binds with amalo which is that sticky Protein
That’s found in the brains of people that have Alzheimer’s disease that’s on the market right now it’s an infusion that’s given once a month there’s some risks associated with it so there’s a series of tests that have to be done to make sure the person is appropriate for
It and a canyon app was approved earlier but it was taken off the market because basically a bunch of controvery um so clinical research we do a lot of research at KCA mostly geared toward Alzheimer’s disease because that’s s of my area that I am committed to um so this trial is interesting
Because it’s looking at a concent form of thine which is a vitamin and it’s shown promise in improving cognition in people that have Alzheimer’s disease so we are gearing up to study that and there is another antibody trial that we’re gearing up to do that doesn’t bind
Amalo but it binds to which is inside the neurons and causes neuroid degeneration um and that’s the point in which you start to see symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease so there’s a lot going on right now in Alzheimer’s disease which has not been the case for at least 15 years which literally last
Couple of years was the first time we’ve had anything new probably in 15 years which is you know pretty P but you know things are things are getting better now so hopefully we’ll have a cure or at least a very good treatment so that’s all I have okay it’s it’s time for my
Protest I I want that that slide of the brain and menopause I’ve got quite a few people I’m might have a talk with okay tell me I’m great going somewhere okay I I wasn’t that awesome very very very very informative you help me to understand some reason hey how you
Doing thought it was the Lord speaking to me all right thank you so much Dr Campbell for that very insightful information uh we’ll now move on to our call to act action uh this is a part of the program uh first we’d like to show a short video about the importance of including
Minority populations in medical research cue the video please okay we need a moment all right so when I was a little girl are you all enjoying yourself I am this is so informative I’m laughing it I’m loving it it’s so awesome okay the one thing about
Technology is some days it’s like oh man this is dope and then other days it’s like ah have you all ever worked on the computer but prior to that okay do you all remember the what we call the copy machine do you all remember the what’s
That mograph you get all the stain on your fingers and everything yeah I remember that you remember being in school and they they shine they put it on a flat surface with the light coming up and it shines on here we probably need that right about now huh you got
One of those in the back but he is trying he is definitely trying hasn’t the weather been beautiful beautiful today it’s been gorgeous it’s been gorgeous ready um all right all right we going to move on moving right along okay um let’s see and now I would like to
Welcome the one and only Vera Coleman to the stage to share a few words Miss is she cute she’s Beau oh my goodness all right Miss Colman is a retired researcher and has been volunteering at volunteering here at 54 all of us here and Ambassador since 2018 that’s all that sugar and
That cupcake got be bouncing all right she has spoken to crowd’s largest small about the importance of the all of us research program and has even been featured as a guest on the 5 forward podcast squeeze the day please welcome my new friend the one and only Vera C thank you so much
One remember three things when you’re be sucin stick to the tarpet and sit down while everybody still so I’m going to try to do just that I am a peer Ambassador for the all of us research program and it certainly has added a new dimension to my life I’m afed the
Opportunity to raise the awareness of the all of us research program I’m afford the opportunity to inform potential potential participant Partners that’s what I like to call I’m a part all of us research of the benefits and hopefully to facilitate enrollment which is our ultimate goal you’ve heard of one in a
Me and you might say well why should I want to join and be one in a minut is because at the moment Health Care is often one size fits on but imagine a future where your’ll help treatments or ta to you this is called Precision medicine and we can make that future
Possible to do this we are asking 1 million or more to share that unique Health Data this information can be added to database researchers there can then access this data to conduct thousands of studies on health and diseases now many of us have already joined and one might say well what do I
What do I need to do to join well there are online surveys that we take and have taken we’ve shared our electronic health records we’ve given biological samples which consist of saliva urine and blood and then they also took out physical measurements so now I want to invite you and cono you
And encourage you of the benefits of having your DNA sequenced through these uh biological samples and taking these um uh surveys that delve in our family history our environment our diet and now there even going to look at the mental aspect which I think is very important so now you can
Join by going online and join all of us.org SL 54 you’ll be glad that you did so now raise your hand and say I swear everybody got a captive I would like to ask the other PE ambassadors to please ask questions thank you you’re amazing you’re
Amazing thank you so much thank you I didn’t know we were on Facebook Hey like And subscribe okay all right wow it has been a fun day has it not it’s been a really fun day I get even extra energy when I have sugar okay imagine what it would be
Like with coffee too I’ll be running out of here I am truly enjoy my time with you celebrating the rich Legacy of black Greek authorities in honor of women’s History Month as we close out the program VI Ford would like to thank each of our featured panelists and incredible
Speakers um and as well as each and every one of you today and those of you who are on Facebook thank you so much um we look forward to other events in the future to come together as one I always love that I love how God has created us
So different so unique but we’re in the same family amen the family of God in my book I say you are God’s Masterpiece look at your neighbor and say you are God’s Masterpiece doesn’t that feel good yes it feels scrunchy all right thank you again for participating
Thank you for coming in thank you so much from the opportunity I’m Crystal Joy host of joy in the morning on 92Q every Sunday morning 9:00 a.m. to 1: p.m empowering you Spirit mind soul and Body on 92Q okay God bless you all God bless you thank you so much for [Applause]
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