UChicago Medicine has launched the Centering Our Values website, a new platform aimed at improving care and equity for African Americans affected by dementia. The initiative is particularly crucial as African Americans face a higher risk of developing dementia compared to their white counterparts, yet are often underrepresented and underserved in healthcare resources.
The project originated from a collaboration between ID and UChicago Medicine, beginning with Tomoko Ichikawa‘s Communication Design Workshop in fall 2019. The workshop team created a 56-page workbook for caregivers in the African American community. After additional testing with dementia caregivers, the research findings were analyzed and implemented by Gauri Bhatt (MDes 2022) in 2021.
The culmination of this work is now available to the public at Centering Our Values. This digital resource offers educational materials, a hands-on toolkit, and worksheets designed to provide guidance and support for caregivers.