Community programs are keeping residents active and promoting healthy choices. The Chula Vista Community Collaborative helped south county residents reach a healthy weight and cut their diabetes risk in half using the evidence-based Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle change program, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In response to the growing concern around obesity, the San Diego Unified School District worked in alliance with the Promotoras de Salud to teach more than 200 parents how to prepare nutritious and affordable food in central San Diego.

Improved access to services and increased awareness of health prevention strategies are helping to improve quality of life for local residents. St. Paul’s Senior Services made tremendous strides in the past year by housing and providing comprehensive medical care for 59 previously homeless seniors at their Talmadge Gateway PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) project and worked with the City of El Cajon to launch a third PACE site in February 2018. Susan G. Komen San Diego, the American Heart Association and the San Diego Padres hosted awareness-raising walks and events to fund critical services for those suffering from breast cancer and the effects of heart disease and stroke.

Campaigns to reduce stigma surrounding mental health are helping to build awareness and resilience in San Diego families and youth. San Diego Youth Services’ HERE Now Program, in collaboration with North County Lifeline and South Bay Community Services, has given presentations to more than 23,000 middle and high school students in 60 schools countywide to help teens recognize signs of depression and risk factors for suicide in themselves and their peers. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) San Diego produced a three part video series called the “Stigma of Mental Illness” and held four family and youth online focus groups broadcasted on Facebook live reaching over 4,100 individuals.

There was a time Athelia Johnson (AJ) didn’t know where she was going to sleep at night. Thanks to St. Paul’s Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) she doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. Through St. Paul’s PACE, she now lives in affordable housing and is receiving the medical care that she needs.

“My health was shaky before St. Paul’s PACE,” AJ revealed. “I was homeless, I was missing my medical appointments. I was getting more and more depressed. It was scary.”

She credits St. Paul’s PACE for not only changing her life but for helping her discover who she is.

“I am just finding out who I am,” she explains. “I am doing that through St. Paul’s PACE with the people that I interact with, from the drivers to my doctors to the other participants and all of the staff. I feel happy when I go to the St. Paul’s PACE center and happy when I come out. St. Paul’s PACE is more than a family, they are a blessing. Everyone there are angels to me, from the time I walk in the door.”