Alzheimer's Los Angeles
Alzheimer's Greater Los Angeles is the only local full-service, dementia-focused nonprofit with 37 years' experience.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating disorder that steals the minds of its victims and exhausts the emotional, physical, and financial resources of their families. According to the 2018 Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures Report, sharp increases in Alzheimer's disease cases, deaths and costs are stressing the U.S. health care system and caregivers. In Alzheimer’s LA’s three county region, the number of people with Alzheimer’s is estimated to be over 240,000 - over 167,000 in Los Angeles County alone. As the baby boomers age, this number will nearly double by 2040, reaching near epidemic proportions. While deaths from other major causes continue to decline, Alzheimer's deaths have more than doubled, rising 123 percent between 2000 and 2015.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Helpline
This is the only number you need to connect with Greater Los Angeles’ dementia experts. Our Helpline Specialists can provide you with the most up-to-date information, education and support. You can also call us for emotional support … as often as you need. We know that living with Alzheimer’s can be overwhelming at times. Remember, we are here for you … all day, every day.
Care Counselors
Care Counselors provide in-depth, personalized consultations for individuals and families facing decisions and challenges associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Our Masters-level Care Counselors address unique concerns to develop a care plan and work with families in person, by phone and by email.
Early Stage Services
Living well with dementia starts by empowering yourself with the right information, resources and connections. We can help address your growing concerns, enable earlier treatment, and empower you and your loved ones to plan for the future, including financial and legal matters.
Family Consultations
We are here to help by providing information, support, guidance and resources. The goals of an Early Stage consultation include:
- Create personalized care plan
- Answer questions
- Referrals to services and programs
- Educational materials and event information
- Information about clinical trials, medications and research
The Memory Club
A comprehensive support, education and peer group that meets weekly for individuals (and their care partners) experiencing early stage symptoms of memory loss due to mild cognitive impairment, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder. Participants explore subjects such as:
- Understanding the disease
- Family dynamics
- Safety
- Planning for the future
- Coping techniques
The Graduation Club
Graduates of the Memory Club who meet criteria are encouraged to continue in the “Grad Club.” This group meets twice a month using experiences and challenges of each family to promote discussion. Additional topics include:
- Cognitive stimulation
- Reminiscing
Memory Mornings
Memory Mornings is an exciting activities program for persons living in the mid-stages of dementia (and their care partners). Participants enjoy cognitively stimulating activities, a chance to mingle, light refreshments, and interactive presentations on music, art, yoga and more. The goals of the program are to provide:
- Safe & supportive environment to engage in cognitively stimulating activities
- Opportunity to socialize with others who understand the dementia experience
- Chance for caregivers and persons with dementia to engage in fun, meaningful interaction
Support Groups
Alzheimer’s Greater Los Angeles is dedicated to supporting families and caregivers. For many, the best source of support is through regular support group meetings. Not only is it an opportunity to understand you are not alone in the daily struggles of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, but you will build relationships and learn from other caregivers who understand what you are going through, develop new coping strategies and find comfort, strength and hope in a compassionate and safe environment.
Our Support Groups are FREE, led by a trained group facilitators, completely confidential and are held throughout Greater Los Angeles in multiple languages.
Telephone Support Group
This is an option for homebound caregivers that cannot attend an in-person group due to transportation and respite issues. Telephone Support Groups are FREE, offered monthly in multiple languages and are moderated by trained facilitators. From the comfort of home:
- Share ideas
- Ask questions
Memories in the Making
Memories in the Making (MiM) is a unique fine arts program for people with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias that offers a creative and non-verbal way of communicating and capturing precious moments through art.
Benefits
- Stimulates the brain
- Enhances connections with families and caregivers
- Preserves distant memories or captures the “spirit of the moment”
- Opens communication about self-perceptions and the world
- Validates and focuses on what remains rather than what’s lost
Community Education
We offer free classes and workshops about brain health, memory concerns, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, research updates and more. Classes are also offered in Spanish, Chinese and other languages.
Class topics include:
- Let’s Talk About It: Memory Loss & Alzheimer’s
- Keeping Your Brain Healthy
- Alzheimer’s Questions & Answers
- Alzheimer’s Disease Research Update
Family Caregiver Workshops:
- Savvy Caregiver / Cuidando con respeto (Spanish)
- Savvy Caregiver Express
- Making Home Safe for a Person with Alzheimer’s
- Are they doing that to annoy us? Behaviors and Alzheimer’s Disease
- Communication & Dementia – Connecting with a person with memory loss
- Down Syndrome & Alzheimer’s Disease
Educational Materials
We maintain a variety of educational materials (brochures, videos, audiotapes, and books) on topics related to Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.
Advocacy
LOCAL ACTION
Bringing Our Loved Ones Home Taskforce
ALZGLA recently served on the Bringing Our Loved Ones Home Taskforce (BOLOH), which included County, City, and community based organizations working together to explore countywide programs to ensure the safe return of individuals who wander away from their families and caregivers.
Purposeful Aging Los Angeles
Alzheimer’s Greater Los Angeles is proud to be a partner of the Purposeful Aging Los Angeles Initiative, which seeks to prepare our region for a rapidly aging population.
Dementia Capable Communities
We are currently supporting dementia friendly initiatives in the Los Angeles area to help our area communities better accommodate the needs of those dealing with Alzheimer’s disease. For more information, we encourage you to visit the very informative web Dementia Friendly America website.
STATE ACTION
Coordinated Care Initiative
Alzheimer’s Greater Los Angeles has been a key participant in the state’s Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI) which has sought to better serve people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
The 2017-18 California state budget formally terminated the CCI as a springboard to remove In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) as a managed care benefit and to re-negotiate the IHSS program’s financial structure. Under the budget, however, all other major components of the CCI will continue with little-to-no anticipated impact in the way beneficiaries in the seven CCI counties access services. The Cal MediConnect program was extended from a three-year demonstration to a five-year demonstration and will continue through December 31, 2019, pursuant to federal authority.
Alzheimer’s Greater Los Angeles will continue working closely with the five health plans participating in the Cal MediConnect program in their efforts to build a more dementia capable service delivery system by encouraging plans to:
- Adopt proven screening tools to better identify people with dementia
- Establish a protocol to identify family/friend caregivers
- Document family/friend caregiver in the patient’s medical record
- Assess family/friend caregiver needs
- Provide respite benefits
- Provide dementia-specific professional training programs and technical assistance to health plans
- Adopt ALZ Direct Connect referral program to connect members to:
Support groups
Caregiver education
Early stage services
Care counseling
Medic Alert Wanderers I.D. program
Full Dental Benefits Restored to Adult Medi-Cal Recipients
The 2017-18 budget fully restored adult dental benefits starting January 1, 2018. Dental benefits were partially restored in May 2014, but there were major gaps in coverage. Most notably, starting in January 2018, all adult Medi-Cal recipients will again be eligible for gum treatment, root canals on the back teeth, and partial dentures.
Non-Medical Transportation Now a Plan Benefit
Starting July 1, 2017, all Medi-Cal plans are responsible for providing Non-Medical Transportation (NMT) to Medi-Cal recipients. Plans have always been responsible for providing Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) – this is transportation by medical mode (e.g. wheelchair van or litter van). Plans now are responsible for providing transportation or reimbursement for transportation by standard conveyance.
FEDERAL ACTION
Funding Alzheimer’s Research
Protecting the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act has implemented important benefits for people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Some of those benefits include:
- Free annual Medicare wellness visit that includes a cognitive assessment
- Expanding coverage of Medicare prescription drugs to eliminate the “donut hole”
- Health insurance companies cannot refuse coverage based on pre-existing conditions, which protects people with early-onset dementia from discrimination.
Continued attacks on the Affordable Care Act have proposed repealing the individual mandate, terminating the Medicaid expansion, and impose per capita caps and block grants. The proposals would directly harm Californians by:
- Slashing Medicaid funding, forcing California to cut services, restrict eligibility and reduce benefits.
- Putting access to long-term services and supports at jeopardy.
- Charge older Californians more.
- Eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Where we work
Awards
Innovation in Health Care Award 2018
SCAN Foundation
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Health, Age groups
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
More than ever, families are looking to Alzheimer’s Los Angeles for assistance so that they can continue to maintain their cognitively impaired loved ones at home. Alzheimer’s LA will ensure that families who provide essential and often around-the-clock care to people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias are supported; provided with accurate information about the disease and its symptoms; develop a meaningful care plan; and connect with the best quality services, health information and resources available.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Alzheimer’s LA’s model of caregiver support includes: a full assessment of the needs of the person living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and their family caregiver(s); emotional support and disease education for both; development of a care plan; counseling about disease management; connection of the family to needed services such as medical care and support groups; and, finally, follow-up to ensure the family’s needs are met. This model has been found to significantly increase families’ understanding of the behavioral symptoms of dementia; change caregivers’ responses to patients’ challenging behaviors and decrease their sense of burden; and increase use of community services.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Patient and Caregiver Support Programs including one-on-one family education, care planning, counseling, crisis intervention, and connection to supportive services; patient and caregiver support groups; and the LA Found wanderers’ identification program. Community referrals will be made to appropriate providers such as diagnostic centers, elder care attorneys, day care centers and long-term care facilities in order to ensure that family caregivers are supported from the point of diagnosis to end of life care services.
Family Caregiver Education is provided both in one-on-one sessions with family members and through classes. These sessions focus on improving caregiver understanding of the disease and its symptoms, including strategies to improve management of challenging behaviors; techniques for feeding and bathing the patient; and suggestions of how to get support for their caregiving efforts so that they can survive the stress of providing years of 24/7 care.
Caregiver Emergency Fund provides financial assistance to caregivers facing immediate needs or crises, funding necessary items or services such as short-term respite, medical transportation, or medical supplies.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Alzheimer’s LA is on track with our organization's strategic plan and is currently running all programs and services as planned. Alzheimer's Los Angeles will continue to provide uninterrupted programs for our community and monitor our success by evaluating program outcomes. We will ensure that there is:
• Increased access by people living with dementia and caregivers living in the targeted region to psycho-educational support services (workshops, education sessions and materials) that can help them cope with the dementia care;
• Increased knowledge about dementia and its care; and
• Increased self-reports of caregiver efficacy.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Alzheimer's Los Angeles
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2022
Jacqueline Macias
Helena Chui
USC Department of Neurology
Gary Ferrell
Norris Center for the Performing Arts
Mark Liberman
LA Inc. The Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau
Elliot Sainer
CRC Health Group
Jacqueline Macias
No Affiliation
Tina Pukonen
Zenith Media
Kenneth Chiate
Quinn Emanuel
Anne Martinez
United Stations Radio Networks
Susan Disney Lord
Bel Air Restaurant
Matthew Reid
Sard Verbinnen & Co.
Val Zavala
KCET
Ingrid Graham
The Movement Talent Agency
Jeffrey Glassman
Covington Capital Management
Kyle Mabry
Western Division, American Airlines
Karl Schulze
Schulze Haynes Loevenguth & Co., LLC
Winston Greene
Lisa Chalfin
Warner Pacific Insurance Services Inc.
Randi Jones
John and Cynthia Tiedeman
Niloo Bedrood
Deloitte Advisory
John Rashap
Revolution Office
John Barnes
First Republic Private Wealth Management
Beatriz Mallory
Blue Star Families Multicultural Strategist
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data