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The city of Pharr was awarded a grant as part of the Healthy Brain Initiative Road Map, which will help the city work to advance brain health equity.
The city was presented with the grant during the city commission meeting Monday. During the meeting, it was announced that the city had been selected by the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) for the Healthy Brain Initiative (HBI) Road Map Strategists — one of ten throughout the nation.
“We are grateful for this amazing opportunity to work closely with our citizens and community to address brain health in our community,” Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez said in a news release. “Our goal is to help make a difference and work towards educating, informing, and creating healthy habits for Alzheimer’s awareness. It is an honor to be the only city chosen in Texas and we look forward to being a model for our local, regional, and national communities on this project.”
South Texas Alzheimer’s Program Manager Maxine P. Vieyra and Region 7 Leader and Executive Director Gregory Sciuto were at the meeting to present the grant to the city. The city of Pharr’s Public Health Director Cynthia Gutierrez accepted the award on behalf of the city.
According to a news release, the initiative will help the city of Pharr address cognitive health and dementia for its citizens.
“We are proud to partner with the Pharr Department of Health on the Healthy Brain Initiative. Everyone deserves a life with the healthiest brain possible,” Sciuto said in the news release. “Together, we take on the important work of increasing public knowledge about brain health, risk factors for dementia, and the benefits of early detection and diagnosis, all while advancing equity in our community.”
According to the release, the initiative will allow the city to designate a part-time Healthy Brain Initiative Road Map Strategist who will conduct a public health needs assessment, train local officials and key community partners, and lead the implementation of public health action on dementia, guided by strategies from the Healthy Brain Initiative State and Local Road Map for Public, 2023-2028.
“In 2022, there were more than 1 million unpaid caregivers who provided care to Texans with Alzheimer’s, most of whom were family members,” Regional Medical Director Emilie Prot said in the release. “I want to congratulate the City of Pharr Health Department for their grant award. Their important initiative will bring awareness and educate our community about Alzheimer’s Disease to understand the burden and connect families to resources.”
More than six million Americans have Alzheimer’s, and the number continues to grow. In 2023, an estimated 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older were living with the disease.
According to the release, almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women. Elderly Black Americans are twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older white Americans, and older Hispanics are about one and one-half times as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias.
