MADISON, Wis. (CBS58) -- During Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health launched a new course focusing on dementia care, specifically for the Latino community.

UW Health experts estimate that by the year 2050, the number of Latinos impacted by dementia is expected to increase by 900%.

The Latino population in the United States is growing, said Dr. Maria Mora Pinzon, assistant professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. In Wisconsin, she stated, 9% of older adults are Latino. But in 20 years, that'll jump to 21%. So, as the number of Latinos grows, so too should the number of physicians who can care for that group that may require slightly different assessments, says Dr. Mora Pinzon: “diagnosing Latinos and working with Latino groups is slightly different. It's not only oh we have to have all the tests in Spanish, but what other evaluations are needed in order to get that comprehensive picture?”

Dr. Mora Pinzon estimates it takes about 15 years for a physician to be trained, so they need to start laying the groundwork now to be ready for more cases of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Especially since Latinos, she says, often have longer lives, and are also likely to be diagnosed earlier than other groups. The average age someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and dementia is 67 or 68, but Latinos might develop symptoms in their late 50s, with diagnosis about 7 years earlier than other ethnic groups, shared Dr. Mora Pinzon. That means Latinos also live with the disease longer: “if the average time somebody lives with the disease is three years, Latinos might have it for 10-15-20 years."

The new course counts on the 17-year collaboration with the United Community Center in Milwaukee, which has worked closely with Latino dementia patients, not just identifying the disease, but also analyzing the difficulties in getting treatment. "Some of the things they are very knowledgeable about is what about when someone is undocumented or underinsured. Many times, we are documented and have all of our paperwork, but we are not eligible for Medicare. And when you go and see, "hey, what are the types of services?" All of them require Medicare. So, how do you navigate that landscape?" asked Dr. Mora Pinzon.

Another thing physicians need to navigate is cultural differences. For example, the word for "banana" in Spanish can be a fruit or a vegetable, depending on the country. That could be a small discrepancy, but Dr. Mora Pinzon shared, "if somebody doesn’t know where this person is coming from and they mention the word or not mention the word, they might be labeled as having a problem" when a test asks them to list fruits or to list vegetables. Similarly, if a patient is asked to draw a house and they draw a lake under a house, some could see that as a warning sign. However, Dr. Mora Pinzon states, in some South American countries, that is how houses are, "there are all of these cultural backgrounds that are important at the time of diagnosis, we hope that the curriculum can explore a little bit."

Dr. Mora Pinzon says about 30% of the adults they see don't have a formal education. As some of the tests are written, this presents another difficulty. Plus, they may require an interpreter. But even that could impact test results she said, "there are things that happen in interpretation time, it’s how long it takes to do a task. if you need to measure based on interpretive or rely on interpreters to do those things, there’s a lot of things that happen in the diagnosis."

The elective course will focus on cultural competence and adaptations, as well as health disparities and Spanish-based memory screenings.

She hopes this is only the beginning and hopes to be able to offer this program and expanded instruction to other institutions in the future.