Life before Alzheimer’s San Diego
Although Joaquin may be relatively new to the organization, having joined in August 2022, they and the rest of the education team have already made impressive strides in the goals they have for the education department. They’ve had almost twenty years of experience working in the nonprofit world and building community partnerships, as well as having a Master’s degree in education and learning design from San Diego State University. Joaquin uses that expertise to activate the organization’s mission and grow how we use data-driven decision-making to maximize our support of communities across San Diego.
Joaquin was drawn to the organization because their grandmother had dementia. At the time they felt lost and didn’t know how to help, then after her passing they took classes about the disease, which helped them launch a photography program for people living with dementia. As someone who grew up in San Diego, Joaquin wants to help increase the reach of the organization in diverse areas that they know “don’t always have access to service and resources like ours.”
Educational Focuses
Joaquin’s main duties include overseeing our educational programs, increasing the volume of classes, and making new community partnerships to reach areas of high need. Their experience and education are very useful in knowing how to create programs that have a measurable impact and are valuable to the community. Currently, a main focus is expanding services into southern and eastern parts of the county, which statistically have the highest prevalence of dementia. Considering that BIPOC are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s and other dementias, Joaquin is working hard to grow our presence and offerings within those communities as well. Strong partnerships with Sharp Healthcare, UC San Diego’s Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and many others help in expanding reach.
As far as online education, we continue to regularly offer webinars in English and Spanish. We also have our annual Date with a Cure forum coming up in June, where local experts and scientists answer your questions in an interactive Q&A.
Joaquin’s Perspective
Joaquin shares that the most rewarding part of their role is working with our educators, Nellie Hernandez and Jean Alton, as well as knowing that they’re supporting our clinical services staff who work directly with people living with dementia, care partners, and others affected.
From personal experience they know how limited time is for care partners, but they urge them to reach out for help and talk to our Clinical Care Coaches: “They can help someone at ANY stage of their journey. Maybe that’s an education program. Maybe it’s a support group. Maybe it’s getting other professional support… the fact we have that as a free resource for anyone in San Diego says so much about the value of this organization and the needs of our community.”
View our education page to see upcoming classes, register for Date with a Cure in June, and see our other free services.
By Braulio Ambriz
