Life before Alzheimer’s San Diego
Before Ginger joined our team in the latter half of 2022, she was looking for an organization that was making a real impact in San Diego County, and was inspired by the support being provided by Alzheimer’s San Diego. As a 15-year North County resident, she’s been a part of this community for a long time, and wants to help it in her own way. She didn’t always live out here, with her path taking her through Texas, Arizona, Connecticut, and New Jersey/New York. Ultimately, she came to southern California for “sunshine, tacos, and that special *thing* that San Diego has,” and admits that it has “felt like home in a way none of those other places ever did.”
Ginger has a degree in English with a minor in Communications, both of which help her immensely in telling human stories and knowing how to connect with different audiences. Her previous experiences range from working in book publishing, a SAAS (software as a service) startup, a surfboard & stand-up paddleboard company, an environmental nonprofit, and ran her own marketing consulting business.
Impact on the Community
Ginger’s role entails many responsibilities, but to her, it “boils down to making sure that our clients, donors, and the community know about Alzheimer’s San Diego and our individual programs.” The marketing department spreads awareness about our classes, programs, fundraising events, and all of our free services. She also coordinates with other departments to make sure new information about programs and services is being relayed on our website, email newsletters, social media, and other appropriate channels. Constant communication is also important because it informs donors on how their contributions are making an impact on the community they live in.
She hopes to continue increasing the organization’s reach across the county, and another big part of this is media presence. We have relationships with local media outlets that share our stories and come to events like the upcoming Walk4ALZ to spread the message about our services. We’ve also begun expanding our presence in the Spanish-speaking community by providing services in new areas and doing Spanish interviews.
Ginger’s Perspective
“I’ve seen the challenges that caring for someone with dementia can bring to a family.”
Ginger knows firsthand how this disease can disrupt lives and in her time at the organization she’s seen how dedicated everyone is to the mission and helping clients, which is why she loves “coming to work and putting my skills to use to help people.” As support staff, she doesn’t interact often with clients, but a few months ago she was able to observe an ALZ Companions visit in order to grab promotional photos, and noted “the way our clients connected with these volunteers was just a great reminder of how much the work we do matters in the lives of our clients (and our volunteers!).”
Ginger’s advice to people affected by dementia is that you don’t have to figure out your path alone, see our free services and call us at 858.492.4400 to speak to one of our dementia experts who can help at any stage of the journey.
By Braulio Ambriz
