East L.A. Has a Reason to Be Grateful to Reagan

Ordinarily, Wilfredo Perez doesn’t have much use for Ronald Reagan. The 28-year-old native of East L.A. thinks the former President’s politics stink.

He is, however, grateful to Reagan since the ex-chief executive acknowledged several months ago that he is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Since the disclosure, health officials on the Eastside--like those elsewhere--report an unprecedented increase in requests for help from persons with the disease. At one Eastside community clinic that serves parts of Montebello and Monterey Park, for example, officials report a 300% monthly increase.

Perez, who is working on his master’s degree in the gerontology program at USC, is the administrator of a brand new program designed to provide respite for Spanish-speaking sufferers of Alzheimer’s and their families. The program, called El Rinconcito del Sol (Little Corner of the Sun), is operated by the International Institute of Los Angeles and is feeling the impact of Reagan’s statement.

“He has raised a lot of awareness about Alzheimer’s,” says Perez, “and there a lot of people like Ronald Reagan in East L.A. who need help.”

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Perez can’t pinpoint the moment when he got hooked on helping the aged, but he does remember how insensitive the health system was when his father died of cancer and a stroke about 20 years ago. “The doctors and the nurses didn’t have any tact,” Perez recalled. People like his father “are human beings, not widgets. They’ve put in their time and they deserve to be taken care of in their retirement if they need it.

“So I kind of made a vow to make a difference. I want to be worth something.”

There are other programs on the Eastside that are designed to aid those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. But El Rinconcito is the only bilingual effort of its kind in Los Angeles. When the International Institute got a $20,000 grant to help Spanish-speaking sufferers of Alzheimer’s, Perez happily signed on.

“I’m in love with this,” he explains. “These people have been overlooked.”

For now, El Rinconcito works out of a nondescript meeting room at a 1st Street church--La Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana--for a few hours on Wednesdays and Fridays. It isn’t a high-profile effort that brings out the politicians, but as its name suggests, El Rinconcito is a little sunshine for those who need it.

“Hey, gimme five,” calls out Alfonso, a 67-year-old in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, as he enters the room. Several staff volunteers quickly oblige.

“Awright,” a satisfied Alfonso says.

Not so long ago, the staffers admit, Alfonso wasn’t very communicative. “He was pretty much disconnected from life,” one volunteer recalls. She shakes her head at how animated Alfonso seems to be now.

Perez and others say the change is temporary. But any help that the Rinconcito center can give is a change for the good.

The program’s primary aim is to care for Alzheimer’s sufferers by offering them intellectual and physical stimulation. A trip to a park, a morning of making a necklace or a talk about the recent rainstorms can break up the isolation or low self-esteem felt by those afflicted with the disease.

At the same time, and perhaps just as importantly, the program provides a well-needed break for family members or friends who must deal with someone afflicted with Alzheimer’s around the clock.

“Prior to coming to this center,” says one grateful daughter, “I had not been able to be away from mother in 10 years.”

Now, she says, she can take care of other things, knowing she won’t feel guilty because she isn’t at her mother’s side.

Says another: “I now have time to dedicate to my children, who also need me.”

That’s saying something for Latinos who are reluctant to seek outside help for very personal problems involving a grandmother or another relative.

Perez glows when he hears such things, comforted to know that the tiny program is helping. “I can do this for the rest of my life,” he says.

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When I visited Perez the other day at the church meeting room, where I even met his mother, who helps out, the conversation eventually turned to Reagan.

“He has brought a lot of attention to Alzheimer’s disease and those who have it,” he says. “But on Iran-Contra? . . . uh, no way.”

On both counts, I was happy Perez said what he said.

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