Lexington is being used as the launching pad for “Memory Sunday”, a national event scheduled later this month.
The program, aimed at increasing Alzheimer’s disease awareness among African Americans, is spearheaded by the organization Balm in Gilead.
Over almost three decades, Balm in Gilead has offered educational and training resources for African Americans and African American congregations.
Dr. Pernessa Seele is the founder. “We have churches signed up all over the country, from California to Florida to New York who will be talking about Alzheimer’s on June 11. And this is how a local effort here in Kentucky is now going national all over the country.”
The announcement Thursday came at Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington. The Balm in Gilead, based in Virginia, has a standing relationship with the University of Kentucky Sanders Brown Center on Aging.
Allison Caban-Holt, assistant professor at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders Brown Center on Aging, says the aim is to make Alzheimer’s a priority issue for church congregations.
Unlike some other diseases, Caban-Holt says Alzheimer’s is not decreasing in occurrence. Balm of Gilead Founder Pernessa (per-NESS-ah) Seele says churches all across the country will participate in Memory Sunday activities. She says her organization sends out emails to some 45,000 churches nationally.