Editor's note: This story was originally published in Health Care Headliners, a magazine meant to introduce the community to the people making a big difference in local health care. The doctors honored in the magazine come from nominations accepted by VEGAS INC.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 5 million Americans age 65 and older suffer from the chronic neurodegenerative disease, including some 39,000 seniors in Nevada.
With the prevalence of Alzheimer’s rising — the organization estimates the number of afflicted seniors to reach 7.1 million by 2025, an increase of 40 percent — and no means of prevention, let alone a cure, education and awareness are more important than ever.
Enter Dr. Dylan Wint, who is leading this local effort in his capacity as director of education in neurodegenerative disorders at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.
“The Alzheimer’s population is underserved,” said Wint, who received his undergraduate and medical degrees at Stanford University and the University of Miami, respectively; completed simultaneous residencies in neurology and psychiatry at the University of Florida, where he also completed a fellowship in deep brain stimulation; and also completed a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in functional brain imaging. “Many Alzheimer’s patients get diagnosed late, or sometimes not at all, often because physicians are uncomfortable with their confidence in their diagnosis, because it can’t be diagnosed for sure without a biopsy of brain tissue.”
The Jamaican-born Wint joined Cleveland Clinic in 2010 following a stint at Atlanta’s Emery University, where he developed the program in neurologic psychiatry, and has since infused the center’s education program with a comprehensive mix of community outreach, research and compassion that dissolves traditional boundaries among medical disciplines and specialties to provide a better quality of life for patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
He was instrumental in spearheading the center’s new partnership with UNLV’s interior health design course, which is the first-of-its-kind, cross-disciplinary class that combines wellness and design.
During the course, fourth-year UNLV interior design students meet three times with a consulting panel of doctors from the center to learn about neurodegenerative diseases and how they affect quality of life. In the early sessions, students are able to ask some of the top neurologists, including program leader Wint, physical therapists and psychologists about various neurodegenerative diseases and the obstacles and challenges faced when living with such illnesses. In the final session, select students present their interior designs, crafted with features and components suited for those with neurodegenerative diseases, to the panel of Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health doctors.
“Part of our overall education program is helping the community to be prepared to help people function as our population continues to age,” said Wint, adding that the design students enrolled in the course address specific cognitive and physical challenges. “For Alzheimer’s patients, for example, there should be a calming atmosphere with a lot of natural light so people don’t get their days and nights confused. With Parkinson’s, people have trouble walking and balancing, so you need to make the floors safe and make sure they don’t have to reach for anything or get on a ladder.”
Other educational efforts include training medical students and also offering a fellowship program, of which Wint is director. The center hosts field trips for local students several times a year and is also focused on education for caregivers.
“We also hold two conferences a year and do continuing medical education,” said Wint, who currently serves on the Uplift Foundation of Nevada advisory board and participates in countless presentations for various community groups related to Alzheimer’s disease. “We’re really trying to get more experts in the field, because the demand is huge, and will continue to grow.”