Rianna Patterson and the Dominica Dementia Foundation

Rianna Patterson/ Image via Patterson

Proverbs 3:6:

“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Rianna Patterson is a 23-year-old Dominican activist and campaigner, now living in the UK. She is the founder of the Dominica Dementia Foundation, a foundation aimed at raising funds for and providing emotional support to families affected by Dementia on the island. In 2016, following the loss of her grandfather who had dementia, Rianna created the Dominica Dementia Foundation which has now reached thousands of people and continues to work towards making Dominica a ‘Dementia Friendly Island’. Due to the Foundation’s success, Rianna has received multiple awards, including the Queens Young Leader award, and is currently crowdfunding for a documentary on dementia in Dominica which she hopes to release within the coming year. 

However, Rianna also has many other interests and goals, including personal development coaching and consulting. We talked about all of this and more in an extensive phone conversation earlier this year, whilst Rianna was taking the train to one of her many jobs. In the first part of this interview, you’ll read Rianna talking about her work with her foundation, and in the second you’ll find out more about her personal life and goals. 

Part 1: Rianna and the Dominica Dementia Foundation

Seun Matiluko: How would you describe yourself in a sentence or two?
Rianna Patterson: I’m a social entrepreneur, personal development coach and founder of Dominica Dementia Foundation. 

Seun Matiluko: It’s interesting that you’re someone so young that has created a charity that benefits elder people. Do you feel strongly that younger people should try to connect more with their elders?
Rianna Patterson: Yes, definitely. I advocate for intergenerational [connections] quite a lot because I think there’s power in youth-led organisations and youth working on social impact causes, such as dementia. 

Seun Matiluko: Do you think we have a lot to learn from our elders who might have dementia?
Rianna Patterson: Absolutely. There’s wisdom in everyone and especially older people, they’ve got wealth of knowledge. I think it’s important to look beyond the dementia because there’s a person there and they’ve got stories and wisdom to share. 

Seun Matiluko: I know that your grandfather was the source of inspiration for your charity. Could you talk to me a bit about your grandfather and what he taught you and how his life impacted you?
Rianna Patterson:: Yeah, me and my grandfather…we were very close. I grew up with him in Dominica, with my mum and my gran, and he taught me a lot about his interest in sports- we played cricket together- and survival skills, he taught me how to fish and catch birds with birdcages and things like that. I definitely learnt a lot from him and a lot about love through his marriage with my gran. It was definitely quite a shock to everyone when he got dementia because he was definitely intact, active, but it happens more than we appreciate. I definitely learnt a lot from him in my life even though he got dementia when I was 16.

Seun Matiluko: With dementia in your family now, do you worry that you might develop dementia when you’re older? Or do you think that by the time you are older we will have better resources and capacity to help people with dementia?
Rianna Patterson: It’s wise not to worry about something that hasn’t even happened, and might not happen. So, that’s the mindset I’m in right now. And, with my knowledge on dementia, I know that there’s a new drug for dementia that was recently approved. So, it’s about seeing how that goes but it’s definitely a push in the right direction, and I’m hopeful about the future because right now there’s no treatment for dementia. 

Seun Matiluko: Thinking more about dementia, do you see any differences in the way that dementia or the way that people with dementia are treated in Dominica and other places in the Caribbean contrast to the UK? 
Rianna Patterson: Yeah I think it’s definitely different here [in the UK] because people have normalised talking about mental health. It’s useful to have those stories of hope and know that people can live well with dementia but tackling the stigma and changing the narrative of Black mental health, especially, in the media is very important. In terms of the differences, there can be racism in care homes in the UK when it comes to people with dementia, especially when patients are Black because there is a cultural context to dementia…once you have that upbringing, in the Caribbean or African, there are certain things you gravitate towards and it’s not something that is understood to a full extent if you’re not in that culture. That’s where people unconsciously treat Black older people poorly. 

Seun Matiluko: Do you think that we have a good dialogue amongst Black communities about dementia?
Rianna Patterson: I think we talk about it to an extent. But it’s still a hard conversation, especially in our communities, because of the stigma attached to it and worries about what your friends will think and what your family will think. That reduces  the support that you can get because we tend to compress any issues we’re facing, caring for people with dementia, and we don’t share it and it just gets worse and onto the edge of despair. I think it’s very important that we normalise talking about it, especially with regard to private care. A lot of people care for their family members, even when they’re truly burnt out, because of the fear of putting them in private care and the fear of what the community might think, i.e. that they don’t care about their mother enough so they’ve put her in a care home. But that’s not the case. If you are not equipped to care for someone then you are just acting in their best interests to get them the right care. Yet, that’s not how it can be perceived sometimes, so there’s a lot that we need to talk about in that area. 

Seun Matiluko: Do you hope that your foundation will help develop these conversations further? What are your hopes for your foundation? How do you hope it will grow?
Rianna Patterson: I’m hoping that it will act as a support for people with dementia, especially Dominican families in the UK, as well as in Dominica, because I would like to create that international pathway between the two countries. I get a lot of enquiries from those in the UK, whose family members are in Dominica, so creating that linkage is very important and we’ve already started that through our support group meetings that we do every Sunday with families in the UK and in Dominica. And we’ve also got the Dominica Dementia friends programme, which I’m hoping that we will continue to develop and get more people involved with to create sessions around Dementia and Dementia care. 

Seun Matiluko: What should people know about your upcoming documentary that you’re currently crowdfunding for?
Rianna Patterson: They should know that the project is important because we need Black voices in the media and we need Black people with dementia to be represented well. A lot of the interviews, documentaries, articles that I’ve watched and read put a lot of stigma on dementia and I’m trying to change that narrative because I want people’s stories to be seen in the most positive light possible. In the film I’m going to be telling stories of hope, stories that will inspire and that will be relevant whether you have dementia or not.  I want to make a film that is easily digestible to anyone. I’m hoping that it will make a global impact and I’m hoping to partner with organisations to develop a global campaign and regional research on dementia because there’s not much research on dementia in the Caribbean anyways. I hope that my film will provide a more useful and wholistic image of dementia than what is depicted in the media, especially as I think that there is a lot that we can learn from the lifestyle of people within the Caribbean, when it comes to aging and dementia, as well. 

Seun Matiluko: How have you found crowdfunding for the documentary?
Rianna Patterson: It has been one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do. I say that with my whole chest because even though establishing the foundation was a difficult task, this was more difficult because it’s been going on since November 2020 and it’s something that I’m passionate about and I can be quite sensitive when it comes to something that I’m passionate about and making sure it can be perceived in the best light. 

You definitely have to be emotionally strong for crowdfunding, especially because you have to directly speak to people to let them know about your project and some people will leave me on “seen” and they’ll say “I’ll check it later” and stuff like that. Crowdfunding was the last resort for me because most funding opportunities in the UK support projects that are more closely linked to Britain and British community and even the Arts Council were difficult as they were asking applicants for details that were expensive to find. And then there are grants but there is a lot of competition, people with a wealth of experience of getting grants and who already have multiple award-winning films and stuff like that. Unfortunately, I haven’t been successful in getting grants and support for the film in that way and so that is why I went to crowdfunding.

However, aside from the difficulties in crowdfunding, working on this film project has been a great way to test strategies and build a community around the project. But it has been lot of work and more than people appreciate. I had to develop a strong email campaign, social media, marketing, content development- and I do most if not all of my content because I do illustrations and stuff like that. So there have been many things I’ve had to do outside of my director role, and I almost lost momentum and hope for this project…but now I’m building back momentum. 

Seun Matiluko: When do you hope to release this project?
Rianna Patterson: I’m going to stop crowdfunding in a few months and just work with the budget I have and change up the team. I know that the budget is not a lot to work with [as it currently stands] so I’m going to have to use my personal funding as well to sort out the flights and stuff like that. I don’t mind it though, I want this film to happen. I’ve put in so much work, invested so much time, and I know that it’s going to create a positive impact. So, it will definitely move forward this year. 

Keep your eyes peeled for part two..