Life Before Alzheimer’s San Diego
With a history of working in museums and academia, along with a Master’s degree in history, Caitlin’s career has always involved an appreciation for record keeping. In 2018 she was looking to advance her nonprofit career, and after seeing how much a couple of friends enjoyed their database related positions, her interest in a role of that nature grew and that ended up being her entrance point into our team. Her previous experiences help her in any problem solving situations that arise within our client and donor records, and her museum experience also helps with our large events, Walk4ALZ and Rides4ALZ, where she registers participants as they arrive. On top of all this, Caitlin is a lifelong San Diegan so she knows how diverse and strong the community is, as well as how unique different parts of the county are.
Meaning Within the Role
As alluded to, Caitlin’s role involves making sure our records are accurate and up to date, along with event registration. She appreciates the latter because as a “behind the scenes” employee, events are the only time she gets to interact with our wonderful community. Considering everyone in the organization references our database for multiple purposes, Caitlin’s job is essential to making sure our clients and donors have their needs met and employees know where every person stands, along with how to contact every family. She says that helping her colleagues in this way makes her feel very connected to our mission. Caitlin also notes this very special feeling at events: “There’s this moment where the events are about to start where everyone at Rides revs their engine or at Walk they’re prepared to take their first steps at the startline and something in the air changes and it feels so wonderful in that moment to know everyone that is there is a part of something… we’re sharing that moment but we’re also sharing hope too. It’s always a really beautiful moment.”
Caitlin’s Perspective
Caitlin shares that after her grandmother passed away from Alzheimer’s disease in 2015, she wasn’t able to truly grieve until she learned more about dementia through the organization. In turn, this helped her start getting pieces of her own memory back and remember the beautiful times she shared with her grandmother. She values that the work the team does makes a difference in the lives of our clients, and how everyone goes above and beyond to meet needs and help families through their journeys. Caitlin recalls replying to a client’s email and that person being surprised a human replied, saying “that really felt like a ‘this is why we’re here’ moment. We’re a local organization filled with real people and we’re here to help!”
Call our office at 858.492.4400 for information on programs or to talk with one of our dementia experts, check out our free services, and ready up for this year’s events starting with Visionary Luncheon & Auction in May, where you can meet Caitlin as she helps you check in to the event!
By Braulio Ambriz
