Overview
The Alzheimer’s Resource Coordination Center (ARCC), located within the South Carolina Department on Aging, was established by state legislation in 1994. The Center’s goal is to serve as a statewide focal point for coordination, service development, information, and education to assist persons with ADRD and their families. The ARCC is guided by a Governor-appointed advisory council composed of representatives from state agencies, organizations, and caregivers who have a special interest in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). The advisory council aids the ARCC in meeting its goals of:
- Initiating the development of systems which coordinate the delivery of programs and services
- Facilitating the coordination and integration of research, program development, planning, and quality assurance
- Identifying potential users of services and gaps in the service delivery system and expanding methods and resources to enhance statewide services
- Serving as a resource for education, research, and training and providing information and referral services
- Providing technical assistance for the development of support groups and other local initiatives to serve individuals, families, and caregivers
- Recommending public policy concerning Alzheimer's disease and related disorders to state policymakers
- Facilitating the coordination and integration of educational initiatives for healthcare providers on the importance and value of early detection and timely diagnosis of cognitive impairment, validated cognitive assessment tools, and increasing understanding and awareness of early warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia and how to reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
The ARCC is staffed by the Dementia Coordinator whose role is to monitor the state’s service delivery system and work closely with the ARCC Advisory Council to develop a coordinated state-wide delivery system that caters to the needs of persons with ADRD, their families, caregivers, and communities. Additionally, the Dementia Coordinator is responsible for submitting an annual report to the Chairman of the Medical Affairs Committee of the Senate and the Chairman of the Medical, Military, Public, and Municipal Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives on the activities of the ARCC.
The Facts
The South Carolina Alzheimer’s Disease Registry, managed by USC’s Office for the Study of Aging, reports that 125,538 individuals in South Carolina have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. This figure does not include those living with dementia who have not received a diagnosis. Among those diagnosed with dementia, 70% are known to reside in the community. The Alzheimer’s Association indicates that approximately 219,000 family caregivers provided 361 million hours of care and support to individuals living with dementia in our state in 2023. The physical, emotional, and financial demands on unpaid caregivers are huge, especially when caring for a loved one with dementia. In South Carolina, nearly 31% of caregivers live with depression, 60.6% have chronic health conditions, and 15.2% report poor physical health.
Experience has shown that caregiver support can promote a higher quality of life for individuals with ADRD and their families. By alleviating some of the burdens, even temporarily, supportive services, such as adult day services, group respite care, in-home respite, caregiver education, and counseling, can enable families to continue caring for the person with ADRD at home.
A major obstacle to adequate care and services for individuals living with dementia in South Carolina and their families has been the lack of resources needed to support these services throughout the dementia journey.
One of the ways the South Carolina Legislature has helped address this need is by providing annual funding to the ARCC to award competitive grants to community-based organizations that provide dementia-specific programs throughout the state.
ARCC Grants
Each year, the ARCC receives $150,000 to award dementia-specific grants to community organizations to support respite, education, and innovative programs for individuals living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, their families, caregivers, and communities. Grants are awarded on a 2-year cycle through a competitive selection process.
Since its establishment in 1995, the ARCC Grants Program has awarded over 378 grants to community organizations that provide services to individuals, families, and communities affected by dementia. These services include dementia-specific respite, adult day programs, and educational programs that support the medical community, colleges and universities, first responders, and the general public. The ARCC grants have enabled more than 7,508 individuals living with ADRD to access respite care services and provided education services to over 73,035 participants. Moreover, since 2021, ARCC grants have supported the implementation of 17 innovative programs. These programs include virtual training for family caregivers, in-home activities that promote sustainability and independence in daily living for those with dementia, and technology that helps locate and safely return those with dementia who may have wandered from home.
During the 2023-2024 grant period, 18 ARCC grants were awarded. ARCC Grantees provided services to 27 counties.
2023-2024 ARCC grant recipients reported that there were:
• 126 Unduplicated Respite Participants
• 10,389.5 Hours of Respite Provided
• 230 Support Group Meetings
• 4,192 Educational Participants
• 2,609.5 Hours of Education
• 6 Innovative Programs
• 298 Individuals served by innovative programs
Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias State Plan
The ARCC Advisory Council served as the representative coalition for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control’s (DHEC) Division of Injury and Substance Abuse Prevention’s 2018 Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Grant. The BOLD grant aims to increase early detection and diagnosis, reduce risks, prevent avoidable hospitalizations, and support dementia caregiving. Work on the BOLD grant helped to develop the South Carolina Statewide Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias.
The plan focuses on five principal goals, each associated with a list of actionable items:
- Improve knowledge, understanding, and awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia by educating and empowering South Carolinians, including every person engaged in the continuum of care.
- Support policy and advocacy efforts that improve the health and well-being of all people in South Carolina.
- Improve the quality of dementia care and ensure all people in South Carolina are able to access the resources, healthcare, and support they need to reduce the risk and all other issues related to ADRD.
- Improve, expand, and develop multidimensional support and health promotion programs for professional and family caregivers and care partners.
- Improve access to, coordination, and use of ADRD data and resources statewide.
The statewide plan will provide a blueprint for care for persons living with ADRD in South Carolina from 2023-2028. The goal of the ARCC is to update this plan every five years to ensure the plan is up-to-date with changing treatments, resources, statistics, and goals.
Contact Us:
To learn more about the ARCC contact the ARCC Dementia Coordinator at ddaniel@aging.sc.gov.