By Dianne Jacob

Helping families: It was great to take part in the recent Walk4ALZ fundraiser at Balboa Park. It was inspiring to see so many people come together to help families dealing with Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia are taking a growing toll on San Diego. More than 62,000 residents have the deadly disease.

Under the umbrella of the county-led Alzheimer’s Project, I continue to work closely with top researchers, local public universities, Alzheimer’s San Diego and others to address the impact of Alzheimer’s and to accelerate the search for a cure.

Ready for battle: Our region recently marked the 10th anniversary of the devastating 2007 firestorms. Those of us who lived through the disaster will never forget the loss of life and property.

We’ve come a long way since then in improving wildfire protection in our most fire-prone areas. The county has substantially beefed up air and ground firefighting resources, and it established the County Fire Authority to coordinate wildfire protection across 1.5 million rural acres.

But a recent county survey found a drop-off in the number of residents who say they are adequately prepared for a disaster. If you haven’t already, I urge you to go to readysandiego.org.

Fighting fakes and frauds: The turnout was great at my recent Don’t Get Hooked forum in La Mesa.

The region’s top experts in financial fraud against seniors joined me in educating folks about what they can do to fight off scammers, who will use any ruse possible to rip off older residents.

A big thank you to Skyline Church for providing the venue. Details on how to fend off crooks that target seniors can be found on the San Diego County District Attorney website.

— Dianne Jacob is San Diego County Supervisor for District 2. For more District 2 news, go to diannejacob.com or follow her on Facebook and Twitter. For assistance with a county issue, call her office at 619-531-5522 or email [email protected].