SAN DIEGO — Alzheimer’s San Diego is extending its reach, making it easier to help the estimated 100,000 people in the county living with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as their families and caregivers.
They have a new satellite office at One Safe Place, the North County Family Justice Center in San Marcos, as well as a new, bigger main office in Kearny Mesa.
CBS 8’s Carlo Cecchetto recently got a tour of both of the new spaces, led by Alzheimer’s San Diego CEO Eugenia Welch.
The facility is state of the art with multiple meeting spaces of all shapes and size and it all has a very comfortable feel, by design.
There are more than 70 partners brought together under one roof to serve victims of all sorts of crime and trauma.
The 44,000 square-foot project is in what used to be a retail furniture space just off Los Vallecitos in San Marcos. It was put together and is managed by the San Diego County District Attorney’s office.
This new North County presence is a boon to Alzheimer’s San Diego because it was difficult for some of its clientele to make it to the main offices in Kearny Mesa and seeing people dealing with Alzheimer’s in person is critical, says CEO Eugenia Welch.
“One of the biggest things is for people to be able to sit down and meet in person with a social worker and have that face-to-face contact and make that connection,” said Welch. “We also will be able to hold education classes here. Eventually, we hope to have a support group here. So many of those same things that we do in our main office will be able to be held here as well.”
But, in addition to the new One Safe Place presence, Alzheimer’s San Diego just moved into new, bigger offices in Kearny Mesa.
Alzheimer’s San Diego is a truly local non-profit with deep connections to the community, says Welch.
“If you're calling to ask for a referral to a neurologist or general practitioner, somebody in our staff lives in the area that you live in and we know those people,” said Welch. “We have relationships with those professionals out in the community. They aren't just names on our resource list.”
They have educational programs, support groups, organized activities and much more. It’s all built to make the difficult journey with Alzheimer’s a little easier and a little more hopeful.
To top it all off, Alzheimer’s San Diego offers all its services for free.
“People are constantly shocked that everything is free, and we'll talk about something, and they'll say, okay, but what's the cost of that? And we say, ‘No, no, it's all free’ because it just doesn't happen. And we're grateful to the community that supports us to be able to do that.”
To help raise money to support all those free programs, Alzheimer’s San Diego is holding “Rides-4-Alz” on Saturday, July 9th.
For more information about the ride, the organization, or just to make a donation, you can go to their website, www.alzsd.org.