In Summerville, South Carolina, seniors meet every week to socialize and engage in crafts. The gathering is part of a greater initiative called the Navigation Club, which invites members weekly to maintain and improve their memory. The program focuses on five key areas: socialization, mental agility, physical activity, mindfulness, and nutrition (members also get a healthy snack during the meetup).
Initiatives like the Navigation Club are bridging the gap to provide comprehensive senior care in the state. Efforts like these provide tailored activities for adults over 65 who face unique health-care needs due to aging. South Carolina has only 79 board-certified geriatricians—specialists in caring for aging patients—according to the 2023–2024 ABMS Board Certification Report.
Data from the South Carolina Department of Aging and the latest census shows that the state’s population of adults older than 65 will almost double, to an estimated 2.7 million, within the next two decades. Yet the state, and others, may not have enough geriatricians to meet the growing demand. Luckily, South Carolina is leading efforts to provide better care for older adults, serving as a model for other states.
The trend in South Carolina holds across the country, as experts argue that the number of geriatricians falls short of the United States’ estimated need for 28,000 geriatricians by 2025. Currently, fewer than 7,300 physicians are board-certified geriatricians, fewer than 1% of all physicians nationally. Because of these gaps, many seniors remain in geriatric care deserts given the patient-provider ratio of 1 to 10,000. This disproportionately affects older adults from communities of color, ones who are low income or living in rural areas.
Improving Elder Care in South Carolina
Given the shortage of geriatricians, South Carolina’s Department of Aging is engaging nonprofits, government agencies, and professional societies to provide meaningful support for the population of older adults. To promote healthy aging, the state created an ElderCare Trust Fund to help seniors stay in their homes and avoid expensive residential long-term care facilities.
Since 1992, the state has awarded more than $450,000 to more than 35 not-for-profit organizations that offer evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion that increase the quality of life for older adults. The ARK of South Carolina, which currently serves Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, and Dorchester Counties, was one of their awardees.
“If you have some lapses in memory, or you’re in the early stages of memory loss, we try our best to teach healthy lifestyle choices so that you can continue to have a healthy brain,” said Michel’le Cathey, the associate director for The ARK. She facilitates the many programs at the organization, seeking to help support families living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.
The ARK conducts memory screenings for older adults at their center in Summerville. If someone is identified with impairments in their memory, a social worker refers them to a health center or recommends that they talk with their primary care provider.