EASTOVER, S.C. — The South Carolina Department on Aging is working to help the Midlands' dementia and Alzheimer's community.
Organizers said the department's Alzheimer's Resource Coordination Center gets about $150,000 yearly to award dementia-specific grants.
This year, the Antioch AME Zion Church in Eastover is getting $10,000 to help their Alzheimer's support group. Last year, organizers said they got $20,000.
"We always try to find what's going on in the congregation, observe, and see what's really needed as far as ministry is concerned," Pastor Robert Benton said. "When we realized that we had several members in the congregation dealing with loved ones and providing care for loved ones that had dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other illnesses within the church, we saw the need to provide some support for those persons."
The church's pastor and program coordinator said these dollars are going to meals, office supplies, staffing, and educational speakers for their monthly meetings, like therapists, nutritionists, insurance, medical and law professionals.
"When you're dealing with something like dementia, Alzheimer's, and other health issues that are debilitating, a lot of people are extremely private about that. But when you get to come to a meeting like this, or workshops that we provide and they realize, you know what, I'm not the only one. They build that support system with others, and they call each other from time to time. Well, I'm dealing with this. How do you handle this situation?" Pastor Robert Benton said.
Organizers said the support group averages about 40 people per meeting. If anyone is interested in joining, they meet on the second Thursday of every month from 3 to 4 p.m.
"We’ve had other people to come from other local churches and they went back to their church and model our program, replicated our program. They thought it was very helpful to them, so they started programs at their churches, other senior citizens groups," said Linda Jones, program coordinator for the Alzheimer's support group.
The church is located at 1136 Antioch Amez Church Rd. in Eastover.