Dementia Detection Leader Offers Insights in UW YouTube Program

Soo Borson, an internationally acclaimed leader in the study of dementia detection and diagnosis, offers her insights on “Once Again,” the YouTube video channel of the University of Wyoming’s Center on Aging (WyCOA).

Borson, in a two-part interview, explains dementia needs a “public health approach” and adds that detection of dementia conditions needs a connection between a community and clinical diagnosis. She says it is a challenging subject and one that is constantly changing.

The first part of the conversation is available for viewing on the WyCOA YouTube channel at WDT Importance of Early Detection - Dr. Soo Borson. The second and final segment is available at Importance of Early Detection and Diagnosis of Dementia - Dr. Soo Borson (Part 2).

The program also can be found through YouTube’s search feature by accessing “Wyoming Dementia Together -- Once Again.” Viewers are invited to subscribe to the channel and hit the “like” button.

Both actions will help the channel grow and reach more caregivers of loved ones with dementia. Comments and questions from viewers are encouraged in the section below the posted interview.

Borson is a professor of clinical family medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine; a professor emerita of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington; and deputy editor of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

“I’m learning, too, by the way,” she says during the YouTube program. “A public health approach addresses a particular problem that has enormous significance in a population. And it’s hard to think of something in the health sphere that has a bigger overall impact than dementia.”

She notes that, while there are only a few million people diagnosed with dementia in the United States, the “ripple effect” of dementia on families and the wider society is very large.

During the interview, Borson, whose professional work focuses on strategies for improving dementia detection and empowering caregivers, also discusses why people tend to avoid talking about dementia; how to recognize when it is time to seek an initial diagnosis; and why early onset dementia can be a unique case of its own.

“Once Again” is coordinated through the WyCOA-sponsored group Wyoming Dementia Together. The program is hosted by Scott Veatch, from Casper. Veatch, who is retired, is a former news reporter and radio talk show host with more than 25 years of experience. He was a long-term caregiver to his wife, Mona, who lived with dementia for more than 15 years.

For more information, call Jenny Wolf at (307) 766-2829 or email wycoa@uwyo.edu.