Days After 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, a WWII Veteran Reflected. 25 Years Later, We Remember

Published in RINewsToday on September 7, 2026

(Originally published in September 2001, 6 days after September 11th, Herb Weiss’s article captured one veteran’s thoughts as America confronted a new national tragedy. Weiss spoke with WWII veteran, Owen Mahony, on the disaster that day. Mahony passed away in 2021 at the age of 95.)

Using hijacked planes as deadly weapons, terrorists have brought death and destruction to the shores of our nation. Not since the American Civil War has this nation seen bombed-out buildings or civilian casualties in its cities and towns. The United States may never be the same again.

Television has brought the horrors of a terrorist war up close to the American public, states 75-year-old World War II veteran Owen Mahony. In that war, the nation was never directly hit, except Pearl Harbor, he said.  The former Rhode Island assistant director of the RI Dept. Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals and former executive director of the United Way Organization in Rome and Niagara Falls, New York, saw extensive military action overseas from 1943 to 1946.

“During World War II civilians had little and no direct awareness of what was happening to the soldiers in the battlefields,” says Mahony, a long-time Warwick resident. “Of course, my family in Woonsocket lived through gasoline and food rationing. Those suffering the death of a loved one would signal this with a flag with a gold star, hung from their window,” he said.

The veteran of the Normandy D-Day landing saw a lot of terrible things in battle that his family did not experience, Mahony said.  “They could look at the battles in the Pacific and Atlantic from afar,” he said, adding that at this time Americans really had little fear that the mainland would be attacked.

Today, “it is a different world”, Mahony quipped. “Everybody has either seen or visited the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. Or maybe they have flown on American or United Airlines,” he added. But through television, the vivid images of the horrific, bloody acts of terrorism in New York City and Washington, DC, [have forever changed] the way we view our world. The terrorist war is here.”

Mahony, the father of 12 children, a grandparent to 29 very young grandchildren, many of whom are elementary school age, notes that it is most difficult to make sense of last week’s terrorist attack. With such a large family, he was on the phone for six hours, tracking them all down to make sure they were safe. “I was like the center of the communication hub, bringing the latest information so that everyone knew each other was safe.”

(Editor’s note: When Mahony died in 2021, he had 34 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren).

Meanwhile, some of his adult children took their youngsters out of school immediately after the attack so they could pray for those who lost loved ones. Throughout the evening, Mahony’s family and circle of friends, from their respective homes, offered prayers of Thanksgiving for those who made it safely out of the bombed-out Pentagon or World Trade Center, or to those who died and to their surviving loved ones.

“The biggest problem my children had was how to interpret to their young children what is going on,” Mahoney stated, noting that several of his grandchildren were upset and crying at what they saw during the intensive news coverage. “How do you explain to young children how the hate of a terrorist brings the individual to plow a plane into a building.”

“The surprise attack will bring out the best of our people,” Mahony predicts, just like it did after Pearl Harbor.”

Millions of other Americans are bringing comfort to their children and grandchildren, assuring them that even with evil people willing to kill innocent strangers for a fanatical cause, most people are good, he says. “We all know that love absolutely subdues evil.”

Publisher’s Note: Six days after 9/11, a World War II veteran believed the attack would bring out the best in the American people, just as Pearl Harbor had. As we will reflect 9,131 days later, it seems that we never truly moved beyond that terrible morning. World War II ended with surrender, homecomings and new beginnings. The wars born of 9/11 ended less clearly, while fear, anger and suspicion burrowed ever more deeply into the American spirit. To this very day. Let us think on these things.

Political and Philosophical Compromise Key to Saving Social Security

Published in RINewsToday on August 31, 2026.

Just before the nation celebrated Social Security’s 91st birthday on August 15, the Senate Finance Committee held an August 5 hearing titled “Exploring Process Approaches for Addressing Social Security Solvency.” The hearing put a spotlight on the program’s looming financial challenges.

It explored possible legislative approaches to shore up its finances before the trust fund reaches insolvency in roughly six years, resulting in significant benefit cuts if Congress fails to act. The hearing followed an earlier Senate Finance Committee hearing in June that also examined the future of Social Security.

At both hearings, lawmakers and witnesses warned about the looming fiscal crisis of Social Security, as documented in the 2026 Social Security Trustees Report, released in June.  The latest Trustees’ report projected that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will become insolvent by 2032. When this occurs, incoming payroll taxes would be sufficient to pay only about 78% of scheduled benefits unless Congress acts.

The Clock is Ticking

Last week, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) joined the Senate Finance Committee in sounding the alarm about the impending insolvency of Social Security.

Against this backdrop, an Aug. 26 CRFB blog posting challenges what the budget watchdog calls a long-held myth about Social Security — that the program works much like a personal retirement account. Under that view, workers contribute money through payroll taxes during their employment years and, when they retire, receive their own money back.

That is not how Social Security works, CRFB argues.

Benefits are calculated using a worker’s earnings history and a benefit formula, rather than an individual account containing that worker’s contributions. Social Security’s progressive benefit formula also provides what CRFB calls “proportionately greater protection” to lower-income workers. While Social Security benefits are earned benefits, CRFB argues that does not mean retirees are simply withdrawing money they personally deposited into the system over their working lives.

“Fixing the system will require putting this myth to bed,” says CRFB.

Citing a 2025 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis comparing lifetime Social Security taxes with benefits, CRFB says the data show that many workers will collect more in benefits than they and their employers paid in payroll taxes, even after adjusting those contributions to their present value.

Simply put, CRFB calculates that, on average, retirees are scheduled to receive back all of their contributions, plus interest, plus an additional 33 cents in benefits for every $1 they and their employers paid into the program. CRFB points out that individual experiences can vary widely. Someone who dies shortly after retirement may collect far less than someone who lives into their 90s. Married couples, surviving spouses, disabled workers and people with different earnings histories can also have very different outcomes.

But CRFB stresses that it is not arguing that Social Security benefits should be cut to match what individual workers contributed. It calls that the wrong conclusion to draw from its analysis. Instead, the organization argues that policymakers should stop treating every dollar of scheduled benefits as “untouchable personal savings.”

With Social Security’s financing deadline rapidly approaching, CRFB says Congress should consider changes on both sides of the ledger — benefits and revenues — as part of any bipartisan effort to ensure the long-term solvency of the program.

“The most important conclusion [of this study] is that there is nothing sacrosanct about the benefit that is directly tied to how much you paid in. And so, as we’re evaluating reform, this idea that, well, I paid for it, therefore you cannot adjust the benefit formula at all, is nonsense,” says Marc Goldwein, CRFB’s senior policy director, who has studied Social Security for more than 20 years.

Unraveling a False Narrative

Goldwein says that the argument that scheduled benefits are “untouchable” has created a “false narrative” used by some Social Security advocacy groups. He compares their unwillingness to consider changes to benefits to the anti-tax position long associated with conservative activist Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform.

Goldwein offers examples of potential Social Security reforms that Congress might consider as it hammers out legislation.  These reforms include: applying the employer payroll tax to all forms of compensation, including health care benefits and stock options; capping benefits at $100,000 per couple; raising the taxable wage maximum; and potentially adjusting the retirement age while protecting lower-income workers.

Goldwein warns Congress not to use general revenues to ensure the long-term financial stability of Social Security.  He estimates that doing so would add more than $190 trillion in borrowing in today’s dollars, potentially leading to skyrocketing debt and a fiscal crisis while fundamentally changing Social Security’s contributory structure.

Ultimately, Goldwein says neither political party is likely to get everything it wants.

Getting a Social Security reform package through Congress “will take compromise on all parties,” says Goldwein, pointing to the 60 votes generally needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.

“It’s either a deal or there’s a 22% benefit cut,” he adds.

On the Other Side of the Coin

Maria Freese, senior Social Security policy analyst for the Washington, D.C. based National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, stresses that Social Security is not an investment plan but social insurance.

“Like any insurance program, it’s wrong to calculate the worth of the program from the standpoint of a ‘rate of return.’ If you spend your entire life buying fire insurance but your house never burns down, would CRFB argue it’s a ‘bad investment’ and that homeowners should forgo insurance? Of course not. And why should we expect to get a specific ‘rate of return’ on Social Security when we don’t ask the same of any other federal program?” she says.

Workers with low lifetime earnings receive a much higher income replacement rate from Social Security than middle-income workers, who in turn receive a higher replacement rate than higher-income workers, says Freese, noting that Social Security is designed as a progressive benefit program.

“Also, Social Security ‘return’ arguments differ by birth cohort,” adds Freese. Baby Boomers, for instance, will end up receiving a higher income replacement rate than younger generations, she explains, in large part because of the increase in Social Security’s full retirement age enacted in 1983. So even if today’s retirees are getting a 133% “rate of return,” that rate will continue trending downward over time.

Freese says “legacy debt” is another way of looking at intergenerational differences.

“Early beneficiaries got a lot more back in benefits than they paid in payroll taxes, which kept the Trust Funds from building any assets in the first decades of the program. Ida Mae Fuller, the first person to receive a Social Security check (back in 1940), is the best example, as she paid in $22.75 and received almost $23,000 in benefits before she died at age 100,” she says.

CRFB is hiding behind a ‘money’s worth’ smokescreen to cover the truth that Social Security’s benefits, which are too low, are easily affordable if wealthier Americans start paying their fair share,” charges Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, who also chairs the Strengthen Social Security Coalition. “The money’s worth argument is not new. Importantly, it willfully refuses to acknowledge that Social Security is insurance,” she says.

Altman asks: “Do those who do not become so disabled they can no longer support themselves through work get less than their money’s worth from Social Security’s disability insurance? If they don’t die prematurely, do they get less than their money’s worth from Social Security’s survivors’ insurance? Do those who do become disabled and those who die leaving dependents get more than their so-called money’s worth?”

Over the years, Altman has been consistent in her solution for shoring up Social Security’s finances. “As with other insurance, dozens of actuaries project the cost of benefits, and the income needed to finance them. Americans overwhelmingly agree that Social Security’s benefits are too low. They want the wealthiest to start paying their fair share, so the projected shortfall is eliminated, and the cost of increased benefits is covered,” she says.

For Goldwein, the choices facing Congress are clear – but hardly easy. Lawmakers can do “the grown-up thing” — as lawmakers did in passing the landmark 1983 reforms — and make the political compromises necessary to ensure Social Security’s financial stability.  Or they can keep kicking the can down the road, borrowing more and leaving an even bigger problem for the next generation of workers and retirees.

A Final Note…

That’s where the political and philosophical divide comes into clear focus.

CRFB’s Goldwein argues that scheduled benefits cannot be treated as untouchable simply because workers paid payroll taxes throughout their careers. Social Security Advocates Freese and Altman counter that Social Security is social insurance, not a personal investment account, and that its value cannot be measured simply by comparing dollars paid in with dollars received.

However, Goldwein, Freese and Altman agree on this fact: Congress cannot continue to ignore the looming insolvency of Social Security. The real political challenge for both sides is to find common ground between  competing philosophies. Ultimately any legislative reform to Social Security must protect the financial security that this program provides while ensuring the program can keep its promises to future generations yet to come.

As this debate continues to unfold, you can see that there is no shortage of policy ideas being floated inside the beltway to fix Social Security. There is no shortage of experts, too.

What is in short supply is time, say CRFB and the Social Security advocates.

With the clock ticking toward 2032, Congress will eventually have to make hard political decisions, determining whether compromise is possible. For millions of Americans who depend on their monthly Social Security check, that decision is not a theoretical exercise. It is about whether the monthly check they count on will be there — and how much it will be.

After more than 90 years, Social Security deserves better than another round of political finger-pointing.  It deserves a bipartisan solution now.

To read CRFB’s Trust Fund Solutions that detail solutions to help improve the solvency of Social Security,  along with promoting economic growth, strengthening retirement security, enabling continued work, improving seniors’ health, and fixing the country’s finances, go to Trust Fund Solutions | Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

To watch the Aug. 5 Senate Finance Committee hearing on approaches for addressing Social Security’s Solvency, go to [2026-08-05] Hearing: Exploring Process Approaches for Addressing Social Security Solvency | The United States Senate Committee on Finance.

“My Mama Joe: Hope & Help” puts Spotlight on Alzheimer’s, Caregiving and Health Disparities

Published in RINewsZToday on August 24, 2026

In the 57-minute documentary My Mama Joe: Hope & Help, producer and director Herb Caldwell, Ph.D., takes a close, intimate look at family caregiving through the eyes of his large, extended Black family.

The documentary looks at the life of JoeAnna “Mama Joe” Caldwell, a community leader whose achievements involved setting up the Faith Social Services Center, guiding vulnerable young people, and campaigning for health equity before she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 60.

“This sweet songbird is my mother, Joanna. You can call her Mama Joe. She is one of nearly seven million people living with Alzheimer’s in America,” says Caldwell, introducing his mother in the documentary.

Caldwell describes his film project as “a divine assignment, referring to it as a “heart project.”  A friend contributed the seed funding to help get the project started.  Without funding, he was able to start his docu-project because he owned video and musical production equipment.

“The filming took seven months to complete with the help of volunteers. Funding ultimately came in after the film was finished,” he said. He estimated that a standard production company would have easily spent an extra half a million dollars to make a film of this type.

The documentary is mainly told from the point of view of Caldwell, who is an administrator at Logan University in Chesterfield, Missouri, and includes interviews with 24 of Mama Joe’s family members and friends about the care they provided. Through their accounts, it becomes clear what daily life was like for Mama Joe due to her memory loss and the strong effect this had on those who looked after her.

Thirty-seven medical and health care professionals, advocates, and policy experts offered informed commentary on Alzheimer’s disease, caregiving, and health disparities, says Caldwell.

According to Caldwell, researchers from “colleges and universities throughout the country also contributed expert voices grounded in scholarly research and evidence. Practitioners were interviewed, he says, “ensuring that this film not only reflects theoretical knowledge but real-world hands-on experience from people actively working in the aging field.”

Finally, Caldwell interviewed  specialists to address practical, often confusing aspects of caregiving that the audience needed to understand – such as navigating insurance systems. Caldwell’s background as a Sociologist came in handy, balancing personal stories with expert commentary. “We wanted to tell our personal story, but we also wanted to help educate others,” he said, explaining that the importance of the documentary’s narrative structure was to be educational, backed by research and data.

According to Caldwell, the documentary first aired on WSIU PBS on February 5, 2025, after which the individual local PBS stations arranged for the film to be shown to their local audiences. At the time of writing, it had already been shown at about 100 locations throughout the country as part of an educational screening tour.

The documentary debuted on WSIU PBS on Feb. 5, 2025, although local PBS stations independently scheduled the film for their regional audiences, Caldwell says. At press time, this documentary has already been shown at some 100 locations across the country as part of an educational screening tour.

In August, screenings took place in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Newport, and Providence, Rhode Island. “We’re talking about doing a standalone screening in Boston, possibly before the end of the year,” says Caldwell.

Rather than simply watching the film, audience members could “ask questions about topics” that were covered.  A panel of experts allowed people to get clarification on complex issues discussed in the documentary, noted Caldwell.

“People left feeling really inspired actually,” observed Caldwell, noting that they felt better connected to information and local social networks.

Mama Joe’s Legacy of Community Service

Who was Mama Joe?

“She loved people. She loved her community. Not your typical pastor. She was radical with prayer and praise,” remembers Caldwell. Those words capture a woman whose death represented a profound loss not only to her large family and friends but also to the community she served.

The story of Mama Joe, as told in the documentary through interviews with her family and friends, highlights her work in community health advocacy, her role as a caregiver, and finally the difficulties she experienced due to her illness from Alzheimer’s disease.

Mama Joe was the fifth of ten children and was brought up in a poor area of Jacksonville, Illinois; her father died of tuberculosis when she was still a child, and she suffered from hunger, family instability, and sexual abuse.

She married Paul Caldwell in 1965 and had four children — Paula, Joy, Kristi, and Herb. Her family would grow through adoption and the informal embracing of others as her own: Barbara, Andre, Bryan, Antonio, Maurice, Latisha, and Ronald.

She was described as a beacon, fearless, a savior, a healer of sexual abuse survivors, and a mother to “a million and one people.”

Her community service began with providing weekend and evening meals to volunteers. She later worked at Big Brothers Big Sisters as a volunteer and caseworker, served multiple terms on the local school board, and ran job-skills training, food assistance programs, and a clothing closet.

Driven by the hardships and tragedies of her childhood, Mama Joe developed a deep empathy for children, people living in poverty, and others who were vulnerable. That commitment led her to found the Faith Social Services Center, a nonprofit organization often referred to as “the soup kitchen,” which also offered recreational leagues, after-school programs, and music production.

As a pastor, Mama Joe took her ministry beyond the walls of a church, showing up in fatigues, jumpsuits, or clerical attire at sick bays, rehabilitation centers, and even townships near Johannesburg, South Africa.

In the documentary, Caldwell recounts his mother’s decision to serve as a minister in a South African church rather than meet Nelson Mandela.

“You can’t talk about my mother and not mention her faith because it was her faith that compelled her to love and serve others without regard to their race, sex, religious belief, income level, or any other factor,” he says.

According to Caldwell, his mother was honored by mayors, governors, and even the White House as the 944th “Point of Light.” Smiling, he recalls that she famously hugged President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush rather than offering a formal handshake.

During her 80 years, Mama Joe fought for the voiceless, gave support to young people who were in legal difficulties, and helped survivors of abuse. Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease appearing early in life eventually obliged her to stop the community work which had been such a major part of her life.

Coming to Terms with Alzheimer’s

Before being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Mama Joe’s family began noticing memory lapses and episodes of disorientation. Following her diagnosis, her large extended family would spend the next two decades helping to care for her.

Over the years, they learned firsthand that caregiving requires strong support systems — not only to maintain the quality of life of the person receiving care but also to prevent caregiver exhaustion and burnout.

Daughter Joy Oliver remembers a visit to a neurologist. “He ran all the tests, did the official test…we got the results, and he did confirm that it was, excuse me, early-onset Alzheimer’s,” she said.

As happens in many families, much of the primary caregiving responsibility fell to Oliver. “I knew it was no question. We would serve her. We would do whatever we had to do to make sure she stayed healthy and that she enjoyed her life, however long that was,” she says, describing her caregiving journey.

“For me, the hardest part was not just the fact that the burden was primarily just on my family and me, but to me the hardest weight was the responsibility,” remembers Oliver.

Oliver also recognizes the stresses of caregiving and the importance of respite and self-care. “Because it’s easy to slip into depression. It’s easy to totally ignore yourself because you have to take care of yourself first,” she said.

During her interview, Angelita Howard, Ed.D., MBA, of the Meharry School of Global Health, reinforces the importance of Black caregivers taking care of their own physical and emotional health. “There is a stigma in Black communities of color about mental health and about going to counseling and therapy,” she noted, stressing the importance of reaching out for help.

Taking care of Mama Joe involved multiple generations, including her grandchildren. Her grandson Jonah Oliver describes how he coped with the stress of caregiving. “With the stress and just dealing with my feelings, swimming has just been really therapeutic,” he says.

Grandson Noah Oliver also describes how caregiving affected his schooling.  “I went through a small depression at this time. I wasn’t submitting assignments, lying about stuff…And in my head I was justifying it. I was like I got to take care of my people. I’ll be OK. I can do that stuff later. And it didn’t get done later,” he admitted.

These family accounts make one of the documentary’s most important points: Alzheimer’s disease does not just affect the person diagnosed. Its impact can ripple through an entire family and across generations.

Alzheimer’s and Health Disparities

Mama Joe’s situation also leads to several questions about Alzheimer’s disease, racial disparities in health care, and whether families have sufficient support when they become caregivers. These questions are examined throughout the documentary.

“Black people are approximately two to three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than their white counterparts,” says Erin R. Hascup, Ph.D., executive director of the Dale and Deborah Smith Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment.

Scholar and activist Okey Enyia, Dr.P.H., points to systemic factors contributing to those disparities.  “A fundamental reason why there are stark disparities and stark inequities is because of structural racism and the various ways in which it manifests across the healthcare system,” he says.

The documentary also points to a lack of resources and education in communities of color, along with geographic and transportation barriers that can make obtaining diagnosis, treatment, and support services more difficult.

Community-based interventions and culturally relevant approaches — including caregiver support groups, churches serving as trusted hubs for information and memory-care programs — may offer promising ways to address these disparities. Increasing participation by diverse communities in Alzheimer’s research is also essential to developing treatments that work effectively across populations.

Caldwell and his siblings also came face to face with the complexities of insurance, Medicare, and a medical system that was not always well-equipped to support families dealing with dementia.

As Mama Joe’s dementia progressed, complications from medication, multiple strokes, and her increasing disabilities forced her family to become increasingly assertive advocates for her care.

Mama Joe died as a result of the operation, and her family and friends held a cheerful “homegoing” service to honor her legacy and the span of her service. One of her relatives spoke about the grief caused, the loss of motivation, and the great effect of her departure.

Documentary Deeply Moves RI Aging Advocates

As Annie Murphy, Senior Program Manager with the Alzheimer’s Association Rhode Island Chapter, points out, this documentary presents a genuine account of the experiences of family members, friends, and the wider community as they support a person with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia.

“As Murphy pointed out, caregiving often imposes an emotional, financial, and at times a spiritual strain on the people who look after their loved ones. With the viewpoint of a son coming from a large Black American family, she stated that the PBS film gave us the hope that community, faith, love, and endurance can indeed make a real difference in the life of a person who has dementia.”

She said, “Documentaries which aim to raise awareness—such as the Mama Joe Project—are important in increasing the impact that this disease has on our communities. They show the need for greater cooperation between state and federal services, community members, friends, family, and faith communities when supporting those affected.”

Markeisha J. Miner, JD, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Rhode Island, stated that “The Mama Joe Project is a must-watch documentary for anyone who is going through ‘the long goodbye’ with a loved one who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia” and added that “it is a beautiful reflection of her life and legacy because it keeps her dignity and humanity at the center throughout”.

She also stated that the film effectively combines Mama Joe’s own journey with appropriate and culturally sensitive input from scholars and care professionals. In the end, the project enables communities to rely on one another, to ask the right questions, and to find the proper support.

“Watching My Mama Joe was a moving experience,” Carol Anne Costa, executive director of the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island (SACRI), said, the organization having teamed up with filmmaker Caldwell to show the documentary in the Ocean State.

As Costa put it, he has created a powerful and moving portrayal that pays respect to both his mother and to the millions of families experiencing the Alzheimer’s and caregiving journey.

She observed that the documentary includes the voices of relatives, doctors, and researchers, offering a variety of viewpoints on aging, dementia, and caregiving.

As Costa pointed out, the real worth of the film lies in providing a platform for the people who live within this reality and those who study it. She also said that combining art with real-life experience is an effective way to help audiences learn about and empathize with this struggle.

In conclusion, George Andoscia, Program Manager of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Program, provides his assessment: “The My Mama Joe Hope & Help documentary admirably portrays the experiences of a person who has dementia and of the family members who become carers. Not only does the account of Mama Joe and her family, the interviews with subject matter experts, and the resources offered in this documentary make it a deeply personal presentation, but they also give it a highly educational character.”

A Final Note…

The interviews woven throughout Caldwell’s documentary provide a powerful case study of community health advocacy, the challenges of family caregiving, and the continuing need to address racial disparities in health care.

At its core, My Mama Joe: Hope & Help shows what Alzheimer’s disease and caregiving are really like. The book demonstrates the real effect that a dementia diagnosis has on a family, emphasizing the change in responsibilities, the increasing number of younger people taking on caregiving roles, and the difficulty involved in dealing with complicated healthcare and insurance systems.

The documentary also has the potential to increase awareness of Alzheimer’s and other dementias and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health counseling and seeking assistance in communities of color.

It brings the topic of care directly to the attention of policymakers: There is a need for support on the part of families who are looking after relatives with Alzheimer’s disease.  The nation’s aging policy agenda must include efforts to improve access to culturally appropriate dementia services, strengthen support for caregivers, increase the involvement of underrepresented communities in Alzheimer’s research, and address existing health disparities.

Mama Joe spent much of her life advocating for people whose voices were often overlooked.  Through this documentary, her family has made certain that her story — and the lessons it offers about Alzheimer’s disease, caregiving, and service to others — will never be forgotten.

To watch Caldwell’s documentary, go to My Mama Joe: Hope & Help | PBS.