Your parent lives alone here. Who checks in?

Your mom or dad lives alone here. You're not the only family in that spot: 39,056 people 65 and older live alone across North County and its neighbors, 21% of everyone 65+ (Census). Here is who can check in, most of it free, and the local person for the rest.

• The County's one number: Aging & Independence Services, 800-339-4661, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm. The front door for older adults and the family who help them, including a worry that someone is being neglected or taken advantage of.
• Meals on Wheels San Diego County delivers every day, holidays included, to adults 60+ with a friendly visit at each delivery: 1-800-5-SENIOR. The County's free meal program for homebound or isolated seniors has a waitlist: (619) 858-1006.
• Somewhere to go: the senior centers and what's on in the next 90 days (Solana Beach's free Senior Games Day is monthly at La Colonia). Adult day care for a parent who needs care during the day.
• Check the phone line: a medical alert on an old landline may stop working when AT&T changes the line. What to do. In a heat wave, the heat check.

Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019-2023, one-person households age 65+ (B11007), summed over each town's ZIP codes. What each town has and lacks: Solana Beach and Del Mar, Encinitas · Carlsbad · Oceanside · Escondido · Vista · San Marcos.

• Parent Check-In Plan, $25 a month: one check-in visit and one errand a month, and a text to you after each one: how they seemed, what was done, what's coming.
• Errands, $25 a stop: the pharmacy pickup, the walker from the supplier, the grocery fill-in.
• Family Assist, $30 an hour: the calls, the forms, the portals and the waiting on hold.

PJ is based in Solana Beach and covers Solana Beach, Del Mar, Cardiff and Encinitas in person. No rides, no personal care (bathing, dressing, medications: that's licensed agencies), no insurance advice, and no referral fees from anyone. Text PJ

Need a human?

This page is built every morning from public data by SideGuy, run by PJ, a local in Solana Beach. If something looks off, or you want a hand with your plans, text PJ at 858-461-8054. A real person answers.

Local help, free to read: make your fix plan · senior benefits checkup · lower your SDG&E bill · Medicare Extra Help · every 2027 Medicare plan · is my medication recalled? · the next 90 days. Plans start as low as $25. Your parent lives here and you don't? The Parent Check-In Plan, $25 a month.