Alzheimer’s Awareness: Healthy Aging Care and Prevention in The Latinx Community with Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos

Explicit content warning

04/02/25 • 77 min

Happy Wednesday, Feelers!

This week’s episode is focused on BRAIN HEALTH with our amazing guest, Dr. Mirella Santos-Diaz, a Spanish-English bilingual and bicultural neuropsychologist, and an Assistant Professor In-Residence in the Department of Neurology.

Dr. Díaz-Santos is the director and founder of the “Equity for Latinx-Hispanic Healthy Aging (ELHA) Lab,” at UCLA Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Care. Her research area is the science of recruitment and retention in Alzheimer’s primary prevention clinical care and clinical trials.

We chat about...

🇵🇷 Dr. Mirella’s journey from Puerto Rico to UCLA

🧠 Dementia Diagnoses in the Latinx Community

📑 Academic Research Accessibility

🐘 Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Awareness

💜Caregiver Support and Self-Care

🧬 Preventative Measures — It’s Not Always Genetic!

Please follow Dr. Mirella’s Journey on...

Instagram

ELHA Lab Resources:
https://elhalab.org/recursos-2-2/

Listen to Dr. Mirella on Empower Hour with Gina Zapanta
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-barriers-dr-mirella-diaz-santos-on-empowerment/id1609440947?i=1000683137557
Living On The Butter Side Stationery
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https://www.instagram.com/livingonthebutterside/
Crystina's Plant-Based Protein Powder:
https://www.kachava.com/

Chapters:

00:00 Hola Feelers!

01:33 Highlighting a Black-Owned Brand: Living on the Butter Side by Tiombe Huggins

05:38 What's in Your Cup? Girl... it’s some weird ass dreams

13:33 Welcoming Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos to the Pod

16:10 How Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos Decided on Neuropsychology

21:08 Challenges in Dementia Diagnosis and Care in the Latinx Community

29:23 The Missing Piece in Academic Research... US!

42:32 Who Are Cognitive Tests Made For?

48:15 Supporting Loved Ones with Dementia

56:26 Self-Care for Family Members of Dementia Patients

57:22 Preventative Measures for Brain Health

01:04:36 ELHA Lab at UCLA

01:06:57 See You Next Time on the Green Velvet Couch!

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Contact:
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Intro music by Heet Deth

Happy Wednesday, Feelers!

We chat about...

🇵🇷 Dr. Mirella’s journey from Puerto Rico to UCLA

🧠 Dementia Diagnoses in the Latinx Community

📑 Academic Research Accessibility

🐘 Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Awareness

💜Caregiver Support and Self-Care

🧬 Preventative Measures — It’s Not Always Genetic!

Please follow Dr. Mirella’s Journey on...

Instagram

ELHA Lab Resources:
https://elhalab.org/recursos-2-2/

Chapters:

00:00 Hola Feelers!

01:33 Highlighting a Black-Owned Brand: Living on the Butter Side by Tiombe Huggins

05:38 What's in Your Cup? Girl... it’s some weird ass dreams

13:33 Welcoming Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos to the Pod

16:10 How Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos Decided on Neuropsychology

21:08 Challenges in Dementia Diagnosis and Care in the Latinx Community

29:23 The Missing Piece in Academic Research... US!

42:32 Who Are Cognitive Tests Made For?

48:15 Supporting Loved Ones with Dementia

56:26 Self-Care for Family Members of Dementia Patients

57:22 Preventative Measures for Brain Health

01:04:36 ELHA Lab at UCLA

01:06:57 See You Next Time on the Green Velvet Couch!

Support the show

Previous Episode

Unlocking Our Dreams as a Pathway to Self-Discovery and Healing with Claudia Barfoot

What is uuuuup deep feeler baddies!?

This week we are honored to have Claudia Barfoot on the podcast to talk about one of our favorite topics: dreams!

Claudia is an Integrative Mental Health Specialist and Ancestral Healing Practitioner, integrating indigenous cosmologies and wisdom into her practice. Claudia strongly believes personal growth and healing is an active process of self discovery, openness to the paradoxes of life, curiosity, compassion and care for all our relations, human and otherwise.

This week's topics:

☁️ What are the different types of dreams and their purpose?

☁️ Recognizing symbols in our dreams and what they could mean

☁️ Shadow work in dreams

☁️ Depth psychology and how it aids the collective

☁️ The truth about "healing journeys" and how to find freedom within them

Get in touch with Claudia:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelandofpossible/

Practice website: https://www.instagram.com/thelandofpossible/

Dreamwork + coaching website: https://www.thelandofpossible.com/

Retreat: https://www.thelandofpossible.com/medicina-tierra

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:07 What's In Danie's Cup!? (News flash: it's rage)

07:27 What's In Crystina's Cup!?

12:54 EA Announcements

16:51 Empaths Anonymous 1 Year Birthday Announcement!

18:11 Introducing Claudia Barfoot

20:28 Claudia's story and how she got into dreamwork

22:28 Dreams, subconscious truth, and lessons we can learn from our dreams

26:42 Sitting with the emotions of our dreams

28:53 Dream symbolism

32:35 Steps to interpreting your dreams

37:13 Taking action on the lessons we learn from dreams

38:21 Understanding depth psychology and collectivism

46:05 Visitation dreams

48:22 What does true holistic healing look like?

59:00 Claudia's ceremonial Yucatan retreat

01:05:11 Closing reflections + outro

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Next Episode

Fully Aligning to Your Authentic Self with Han Huante

TW: This episode discusses sensitive material such as suicidal ideation. Please take care of yourself and listen only if you have the capacity.
In this week's episode we have San Diego's resident unapologetic queen and fashion icon - Han Huante, the creator behind How I See It and host of How I See It podcast!
We have a very raw, relatable, and real chat about:
💋 Han's journey with anxiety and depression
💋 Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
💋 Lessons learned through healing and the hard "be real with yourself" moment
💋 Becoming unapologetic and and living authentically
We are so grateful to Han for being so open about where she's been and where she's at now. We hope you guys enjoy the conversation and feel free to leave your questions or "AHA" moments in the comments!

Where to find Hannah:

Instagram
Podcast
Podcast IG
Website

00:00 Intro

01:03 This episode might look different...

03:36 What's In Your Cup!?

16:59 Introducing Hannah Huante

32:05 Problem Solving vs. Panic Mode

32:52 Therapy and Tough Love

35:56 Embracing Authenticity

38:24 Healing and Self-Reflection

44:57 Navigating Relationships and Boundaries

54:39 Sustainable Fashion Tips