Filming begins at UH to spread Alzheimer's awareness to Hispanic community

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Filming underway at UH to spread Alzheimer's awareness to Hispanic community

FOX 26's Natalie Hee explains what the project is all about and what they show is hoping to accomplish.

Filming began this weekend for an upcoming Hispanic soap opera focused on spreading awareness to Alzheimer's. 

RELATED: UH launches program to solve root of health issues in the U.S.

The University of Houston announced back in December how a student had a mission to raise awareness about brain health in the Hispanic community and was one of nearly 30 aspiring writers from across Houston to compete in a one-day creative script writing "hackathon" hosted by the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication. The goal was to develop a telenovela script, or Latin American soap opera, to inform Hispanics of all ages about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

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University of Houston is focusing on health

The pandemic put a spotlight on health outcomes and the many different community approaches or levels of access to health resources. It became clear that some groups had fewer resources or perhaps more health struggles. So to help fix the problem, the University of Houston is creating a program that will focus on developing proven solutions.

Health experts at UH say Hispanics are 50% more likely to develop dementia or other related diseases than non-Hispanic white Americans but only account for 1% of clinical trials studying Alzheimer’s disease. 

Filming for the project started Saturday, April 9th, and is expected to continue each weekend, except Easter, until April 24th. UH officials say the majority of the filming will take place at the campus but do have some other location shots. 

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To learn more about the project, click here.