In 2010, Gerda Saunders learned that she has dementia. She was 61 years old at the time, and soon had to leave her post teaching at the University of Utah. So Gerda started writing her memoir, what she calls her field notes on dementia. KUER’s RadioWest has followed Gerda for more than a year, telling her story in a series of short films and an in-depth radio conversation.
Every 67 seconds, someone in the U.S. develops Alzheimer’s disease. That’s more than 5 million people, and add to that the fact Alzheimer’s is only one type of dementia, and it makes sense that researchers are calling this an epidemic.
Often, individuals suffering from dementia can’t tell their own story. That makes Gerda a unique voice in this growing population. In our package, we’ve had the opportunity to present her journey in her own words, and make it available through interview and intimate filmmaking.
KUER’s RadioWest partnered with a local creative agency, The Good Line, to create an engaging, interactive website that serves as a landing page for this important work.
