From Heart to Head - My CSI Story

By Rachel Ramos

As Miss Heart of the Midwest 2025, my community service initiative (CSI) is From Heart to Head, which promotes dementia prevention and education, builds awareness and empathy in our communities, and encourages legislative action. Environmental factors mostly cause dementia and you can reduce your risk by exercising, sleeping well, managing diabetes, reducing stress, eating healthy, and protecting and exercising your brain. These prevention techniques are cardiovascular-based, as heart health is closely linked to brain health. For example, people who live sedentary lifestyles are already increasing their dementia risk by 30%! From Heart to Head focuses on the Heart as much as the Head, and maintaining cardiovascular health is the first step to preventing dementia. A question I often receive about my CSI is, “Isn’t dementia an old person’s disease? Why should children care about a disease like dementia?” The answer is - our health begins now. By exercising and eating well now, your body will thank you in the future and will allow you to continue to do what you love, whether that’s pickleball, yoga, crosswords, soccer, or anything between. Visit FromHearttoHead.com for more information on how to prevent your risk for dementia, or sign up for the monthly newsletter. 

The partnership between the American Heart Association and Miss America is so pertinent because more young women will be aware of their cardiovascular risk, and fundraising through this partnership also funds research that focuses on women’s cardiovascular health. Two-thirds of all Alzheiemer’s cases are women. Women are also more likely to be caregivers for someone with dementia. Cardiovascular disease is the number one leading cause of death for women, and dementia is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. This connection between women and being more at risk for dementia may be because women were rarely in any clinical research trials until 1993. But it could also be because women live longer than men, early-onset menopause is now being linked to dementia, or that different societal roles support different cognitive engagement. We do not have the full picture yet, and research behind the dementia-women connection is still evolving, but we could find the answer to this connection as long as we fund women’s health research through the NIH (National Institutes of Health). The terms “diverse”, “women”, “female”, and “minorities” need to be included in research studies because these representative terms lead to research that will prevent deaths in the future. 

This initiative has become deeply personal to me due to my own family’s experience with dementia, which I now work to address through advocacy. My “why” is because of a very strong woman, my great-grandmother Harriet. She passed away in a long-term care facility after refusing care for her dementia and breast cancer diagnoses. She was an incredible woman, mother, Polish immigrant, and friend. My family lacked the resources and awareness of what to do for her because she refused care. I was a child unable to help her, but now that I am older, I have turned my grief into purpose for families going through similar experiences. Today, I am an Alzheimer’s Association Legislative Advocate and Community Educator. I previously lacked the courage to advocate on behalf of the dementia cause because of my absence of confidence, I felt like my voice did not matter. Through the Miss America Opportunity, I have gained the skills and confidence needed to speak on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association and have since met with several legislatures, mayors of Indiana, and the Governor of Indiana, and I am planning on continuing my advocacy on Capitol Hill in June. A major pillar of From Heart to Head is legislative engagement; because using our voices together to make change is how we make tangible impacts in our dementia communities. 

Personally, being a woman in research, it is a core value of mine to be a scientific communicator and share objective facts. As an Alzheimer’s Association Community Educator, I educate at-risk communities by giving Understanding Alzheimer’s and Dementia presentations so the general public can understand dementia in a tangible light. I plan on giving another presentation in April, but I wanted to share a quick story of impact from a presentation I gave in November. After presenting, I sat in the audience to answer personal questions and a woman asked me for advice, “I am here today because I am caring for a friend’s mother with dementia. It’s only for a week but I’m scared I’m going to do something wrong, I’m not experienced with caregiving. What can I do?” Her emotions started showing through, so I held her hands to make her more comfortable, “Firstly, it shows that you care because you are here to learn and ask questions, so I already know you’ll do a good job. Secondly, in my experience as a Certified Nursing Assistant who has taken care of patients with dementia, the most important thing you can do is treat her as a human being.” Then, I proceeded to provide her with local resources, information about what a person with dementia may be going through, and the Alzheimer’s Association helpline number: 1(800)272-3900. 

I encourage you to visit FromHearttoHead.com to learn more about dementia prevention and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or need support. Insta: @MissHeartMWIN or @FromHearttoHead.CSI. For business inquiries: FromHearttoHead@gmail.com.

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Rachel Ramos is the current Miss Heart of the Midwest (IN). You can follow her on her title's Instagram.

This is her first guest blog for Section 36 Forevers.