The Texas State Historical Association’s handbook places Oak Cliff on the south bank of the Trinity River, two miles from downtown, and Oak Cliff’s roads run naturally toward DeSoto. We measured two common starting points with OpenStreetMap routing, in light traffic.  

From North Oak Cliff and Bishop Arts: take Zang Boulevard to I-35E south, pick up US-67 (the Marvin D. Love Freeway) for about five miles, then head south on Cockrell Hill Road for about three and a half miles to Belt Line Road. Total: 12.9 miles, about 20 minutes.  

From the Kiest Park area: go south on Hampton Road to US-67, then Cockrell Hill Road south to Belt Line. Total: 9.4 miles, about 17 minutes.  

From Wynnewood, Kessler Park, Winnetka Heights or Kiestwood, one of those two routes will usually be the shorter one. Our Richardson center is almost 30 minutes from Bishop Arts, so DeSoto is the center we recommend for Oak Cliff.

This surprised us when we looked. The Alzheimer’s Association’s list of Dallas County caregiver support groups shows several in north Dallas and Uptown, but none meeting in Oak Cliff. The nearest on the list is the one we host at our DeSoto center on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 2:00 PM, sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association and open to anyone in the community. You do not need to be enrolled with us to come. The chapter’s support group list has the current schedule.  

If you have never been to a support group and are not sure what to expect, our article on what really goes on in an Alzheimer’s support group meeting walks through a typical session.  

Call (972) 274-2484 to confirm the next meeting date.

Our DeSoto calendar changes each month, and it is built to give members something to look forward to. A recent month included a watermelon party, a s’mores day, a birthday celebration, performances by visiting musicians, a movie day with snow cones, chair exercise, yoga, a story hour, and a Wednesday book club working through a novel.  

Around those events, the daily rhythm stays steady, which people with dementia need:  

• Breakfast and a morning snack on arrival.
• Exercise twice a day, plus music and a daily sing-along.
• A hot lunch cooked in our kitchen from dietitian-reviewed menus.
• Afternoon games, crafts, therapy dog visits and intergenerational programs.
• Recliners and a bedroom for anyone who needs to rest.

The full range is on our recreational and therapeutic activities page.

A licensed nurse is on duty at our DeSoto center every day we are open, to give medications, check blood pressure and glucose, assist with oxygen, carry out treatments and track weight. Staff help with walking, transfers, toileting and incontinence care. Every staff member is background checked and certified in CPR and first aid.  

Oak Cliff families already know the area’s hospitals: Methodist Dallas Medical Center on North Beckley Avenue, and Methodist Southwest Medical Center on West Wheatland Road, which was known as Methodist Charlton until it was renamed on August 1, 2026. UT Southwestern also runs an outpatient campus at RedBird on West Camp Wisdom Road. During the day, our nurse handles the routine health needs so you are not on call for them.