As part of our From San Diego, with Love series, we're honored to share heartfelt stories from our community. Every love story has more to tell — this is one of them.
Alison Hranek had just turned 30 when she realized she needed a new career. A graduate of San Diego State University, she moved to Los Angeles years earlier to work in the film industry. It seemed like the perfect place to be, especially as she landed a job in the field. However, after experiencing a toxic work environment in Hollywood, she became disillusioned with the industry.
“While it was fun in school, it wasn't where my heart was,” Hranek said. “It left me feeling like I was spending 40 hours a week not filling the void that I felt was there. I felt like there was more that I could be doing.”
She left. Along with other concerns about the industry, the feeling of a void persisted and led Hranek to reconsider her entire career. Now, back in her hometown with no job and an unclear future, Hranek was working odd jobs to pay the rent.
Uber driving, nannying and waitressing all fell onto her resume. It was 2017, and at a time when many of Hranek’s peers were secure in their fields, she felt aimless and unsure of where to go next. Then she saw the caretaking job.
“It was to spend time with someone who is living with Alzheimer's, to give their care partner a break. I didn't know anything about Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. Nothing,” she said. “I knew it affected older people, that’s all.”
Hranek didn’t know what to expect going into it. She always enjoyed helping others, but had never seen herself becoming a social worker. Meeting a woman with Alzheimer’s was the moment when it “clicked.”
“Seeing someone who was around my mom's age, quite a bit younger than most individuals that are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, hit me a little differently. The way that I was able to connect with her, spend time with her, I thought, I want to help more people like her. It's almost like that love at first sight feeling,” she said.
Hranek felt an interest in the woman and her condition that brought her back to volunteer again. And again.
“It's like a light switch went on where I was like, 'I want to know more about Alzheimer's disease and what it does to the brain. How can I learn more?'” Hranek said.
According to San Diego County’s 2022 Alzheimer’s Project report, about 100,000 San Diegans were living with Alzheimer’s disease. By 2030, the number is expected to reach 115,000. The woman that Hranek worked with was just one in a growing population of people in need of Alzheimer’s care.
Before long, Hranek’s newfound interest led her to Alzheimer’s San Diego, a local nonprofit that offered her Alzheimer’s education and volunteering opportunities. From there, she took her first caregiving job and applied to a master’s program in social work at her alma mater, SDSU. In just a few years, her life had completely changed.
“I can't tell you how exciting it was for me — as someone who had previously not really cared about having a career,” Hranek said. “I thought I'd just keep working to pay rent, and my job is just a means to an end to pay bills. That's it. Then this came and I was like, man, I can't get enough.”
Reentering school and starting her master’s program was not simple, especially since it had been years since she was last a student.
“I didn't have this confidence that I could go back. I still don't consider myself an academic,” Hranek said.
Her education only added to her excitement and prepared her to leap into social work.
“There's a different sense of reality that (people with Alzhiemer’s) live in and being able to jump in and join their reality, it takes so much energy and effort and patience,” she said. “I think all those little moments are glimmers for me to know not only am I doing the right thing, but somehow I found exactly where I'm supposed to be.”
Now, at 39 and working as a social worker with the organization she once volunteered for, Hranek says it has been a “full-circle” moment that she could never have expected. Depending on the day, she might be conducting family meetings, answering calls from clients and hosting in-person and virtual support groups. She describes her work environment as a place of compassion that has made her kinder in her everyday life.
“It's easy for us to be angry and to think we're all out for ourselves, but this job has helped me think about the community as a whole. I mean, anyone out there on the road could be my client or anyone out there could be someone that I help someday,” she said.
From quitting her job after burnout and feeling unfulfilled to being excited for work every day, Hranek calls the experience transformative. She says it’s just the beginning of her work in the community that “brought her purpose.”
“I can't say enough about how special it was to me to volunteer for (Alzheimer’s care),” Hranek said. “I mean, it literally changed my life.”
