Major funding for IMPACT is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina with the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations.

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♪ Nurse> Hello.

Patient> Hello there.

Nurse> How are you, sir?

Patient> Pretty good this morning?

Nurse> Good, good, good.

Mark Smith> You know, we talk about the silver or the gray tsunami, that wave has been coming for a while.

One of the statistics that I've heard recently and read was there are over 11,000 people a day in the United States turning age 65 every single day, and that will continue until the year 2027.

Connie Munn> We have 1.2 million older adults right now in South Carolina, and that is growing rapidly.

So how do we address that?

Andrew Boozer> Senior resources are really here to to help the elderly in our community, but if you ask somebody who is older, nobody wants to claim the word elderly.

So my elderly is always somebody who's at least 20 years older than you.

Kassi South> I think aging carries such a stigma because nobody really wants to talk about getting older.

And then what you see on the media, on the news, what you see in pop culture is, you know, it's almost making fun of the aging process.

Victor Hirth> Thankfully, for many of our older adults, their older years could just be travel and leisure and not so many concerns about health in general.

But, unfortunately for some of our folks, the chronic conditions they tend to accumulate have a big impact on their quality of life and their need for proper access to healthcare of all sorts.

Jennifer Brewton> We don't have crystal balls.

We don't know what, what tomorrow holds for any of us.

Our hope no one, no one sets out for retirement and says, you know, our really what I want to do is go straight into a nursing home.

No one, no one has that as a as their end goal.

Patient> I've never been home.

I'll never go home.

That's the problem with these places.

It's, so you have no idea how difficult it is to realize you've lost everything and you'll never go home.

Lynn Cornfoot> You just can't rely a hundred and ten percent on somebody else to take care of your loved one.

When your loved one cannot advocate for themselves, it's a different ballgame.

Sarah Clingman> I think that many of us believe that we can remain independent, living alone in our home until we die, and that is the wish of 99 percent of everybody.

Renee Burton Middleton> As I tell everyone, they should plan for health care and plan for what's to come.

I personally am not even in this space where I've done it myself.

Dixie Goswami> I'm not well organized enough to have a plan, so I won't pretend that I had any plan except to stay in my own home.

Narrator> They call it the silver tsunami, the anticipated swell in the senior population as the entire class of baby boomers hit age 65 or older, outnumbering children for the first time ever by the year 2030.

It's a national phenomenon, but in South Carolina, with its popularity as a retirement destination, the implications are even greater.

♪ [splashing sound of ocean water] ♪ South Carolina is the fourth, highest net migration, in the United States.

And so we have a significant number of people who are moving to the state.

Right now, about a third of them are expected to be seniors, in the coming years.

So that's a huge population that we need to be addressing.

And, you know, we don't want to be behind the eight ball.

We're already a little behind.

But I think that there's some room to make it up.

Danny Sanford> So we're headed toward a time, that many people called the Silver Tsunami.

It's, it's the aging of America.

It's happened to other countries ahead of us.

So we've had some examples.

We've had things we could watch to see how that works.

As a society, we haven't paid much attention to that.

We've continued to really kind of devalue aging and aging people.

We fought against it.

We don't want to talk about it.

As a nation, we're headed there and there's going to be a massive number of people and the the curve really just now steepens, and keeps going for a good long while before it flattens out.

Narrator> With the changing the population demographics comes the need to reevaluate and address the opportunities and the options available to serve our seniors and to meet the myriad challenges the process of aging may demand.

Key among these are issues of housing, health care, finances, legal protections, safety, accessibility, and social isolation issues that often overlap.

Creating and compounding a network of concerns that challenge the goals of positive elder living.

♪ Our mission and our goal is every day we come to work here to ensure that our older adults in South Carolina have those services that are available to them.

In the state of South Carolina, there are ten area agencies on aging that provide services to our older adults.

With so many people turning 65 and a significant amount of people aging every day, what we're going to have is that baby boomer generation moves into the senior category, needing all senior services that current seniors need.

We are very likely to have workforce health issues regarding independent living, retirement communities, end of life planning with hospice workers.

I worry about the number of hospital beds.

All of those problems are only going to be multiplied times 2 or 3 in every area.

Connie Munn> I think one of the biggest issues facing our older adults in South Carolina right now is the issue with housing, and we also know that there's not enough housing for these individuals.

And when I say not enough housing, I mean affordable housing.

Mark Smith> Planning for retirement is something most want to do.

But when you're living paycheck to paycheck and oftentimes there's more month than there is money, you're forced to make difficult decisions.

So if I had to think about what I would be concerned about most if I was a senior today heading into retirement, it would be having enough liquidity or enough cash, because cash, if you have enough, you don't have to spend it down.

Mark Smith> Now, there are options for those above middle income, for private pay, nursing homes.

We call them C.C.R.C.

's, Continual Care Retirement Community.

So nothing's wrong with my health.

I'm 65 years old, but I don't need the big house anymore.

I'm going to move into a continual care, a retirement community, and I'm going to have a cottage.

Still going to have my independence.

I can tap into any of the resources that the community offers, like dining services, social services that allow me to meet other seniors.

And as my care increases, I can then move from my independent cottage to assisted living and then on to full scale nursing home when the health care needs increase and get to that point.

If I can write a check for oftentimes 7 to 11,000 dollars a month and self-pay for that or more in many communities, as you know, then we're okay, but that's not where most South Carolinians are.

Calvin Elam> But when I think about the challenges for seniors today, one is, lack of preparedness for retirement when it comes to income.

We see that a lot of baby boomers and reports have, less than 250,000 dollars to last them throughout retirement, and that's fairly, inadequate.

And then the next thing we tend to see is there's, a fair amount of debt that, the baby boomers carry into retirement.

When we think about, I think it's about 65 percent of baby boomers carry mortgage debt, credit card debt and the like into retirement.

And that can become a challenge.

Danny Sanford> The C.C.R.C.

's have done a good job of taking care of people who have enough needs to pay for that.

Medicaid's catching people here at this level and affordable housing is catching on, subsidized housing, the HUD stuff that we've known about for the last 50 years.

But what about these folks in the middle?

They don't have enough resources to go here.

They have too much resource to get helped here.

What are they do?

Because right now what we see them doing is they stay home and fend for themselves as best they can.

So we've set our sights on can we design something that can carry itself?

We're pretty much there.

And we do have a program and a plan that will work.

It's 182 units total, for that campus, and we will build them all in one phase.

That's what helps it work.

A place where middle market people can come get all the same benefits of living in community together, that anybody else can get, even if they have more resource.

That's the goal.

That's the plan.

Narrator> Independent living, assisted living and long term care are the three basic options.

Each seniors experience will be different.

I was very active.

I could never really walk again.

I was in my wheelchair.

I could use the rollater, but I live by myself and I lived like 20 some miles from, you know, anywhere pretty much, so I thought it was smart.

And I got one of the tags, you know, the things you press trying to be halfway self-sufficient.

But I had a massive stroke.

I don't know what happened other than I ended up on floor.

I was in I.C.U.

for a long time, but they never really bothered to turn me or pull me up.

I developed bedsores on both legs.

Both feet, because I almost lost my feet and on my hip.

All those bedsores came with me when I came here.

It was a very slow recuperation.

I had some very good nurses.

My day nurse was, is still is awesome.

I can't get out of bed and there was five, six months that nobody would help me get out of bed.

And I'm paying for it.

I'm going to die here.

I don't like it and there's not much I can do about it, but I'm in a lot better shape than some of these people here.

At least I can speak up and I try to speak for other people.

Narrator> Although not yet a senior Tripp Rhodes has already confronted one hurdle, choosing nursing home care and the right long-term care facility.

I got hurt in 2010.

I fell off my porch.

I fell three and a half feet and just kinda cracked my neck and broke my C5.

It put me in, the Shepherd Center for, I don't know, six months or so, and then, I went home.

My mom took care of me and then interviewed here and then came and sat with my roommate.

And now I've been here eight years and I've loved every minute.

Just because the outside looks beautiful or just because the inside looks beautiful, doesn't mean that, the care is going to be good.

And so, we really encourage families and individuals who are looking to move into places to visit at different times and to really, investigate on their own.

The type of, care that is being received in the facility and, and the residents before you make these decisions.

Tripp Rhodes> So I'm 50.

So you back it up eight years ago and that's when I moved in.

And coming in with other people my age and, the lively group where I was depressed at home, it brought a depression out of me and got me in, you know, to going around helping, residents if they needed help.

It's a very good place.

We still provide the medical care, but we want it to have, a home like experience.

Our residents don't live on annexes, or they don't live on halls.

They live in neighborhoods.

So therefore it does have a more homelike environment.

Narrator> Staffing shortages are evident throughout the health care industry.

Low pay, poor working conditions and lack of training are major deterrents for those who serve the elderly.

My training and background is geriatrics, which is care of older adults.

The number of physicians entering that profession is substantially lower than the numbers of physicians retiring or leaving the profession.

So we're going to have a bigger gap in terms of doctors trained in the specifics of older adult care.

In many of your facilities, the people who provide the care have multiple jobs because of the pay structure.

And this is just not a South Carolina issue, is a national issue that the people who provide the care, they are paid slightly above minimum wage to provide the level of care that they provide on a daily basis.

Patient A> They hired a bunch, but, they don't stay and I just figured it's because they're not paying them enough.

That's a problem in this industry.

Lynn Cornfoot> There's a lot of turnover, in these caretaking places.

You know, some people have worked there for years and other people are just kind of coming in and testing the waters, and then they leave again.

Patient> You got to create an atmosphere where people want to come, they want to stay, and they're getting paid decently to where they can afford to stay.

Of course, we believe that there should be quality of staff, but we, there's a numbers problem.

We have to have the people that in South Carolina that can actually fill those jobs.

And we just have so many job openings currently within the medical field.

Dale Watson> And so everybody's looking for that same C.N.A.

or certified nursing assistant or just that general caregiver who can provide that care.

So we're running into a a problem of beds and caregivers in the facilities and in the community.

Narrator> Negative stereotypes plagued many nursing homes due to preconceived notions of abuse and neglect.

Sarah Dunning> We investigate abuse, neglect and exploitation and long term care facilities.

We are one of the few individuals that go and visit long term care facilities on a regular basis.

Sometimes in facilities things are really good and they're getting, residents are getting all the care that they need, and things are wonderful.

But there are some times when we go to facilities and things are not so good.

They always have the fear that the most vulnerable people have the roughest time.

My brother was in one, they got closed down.

Patient A> The first time I was in a facility, not this one, but a former facility, and that's where I saw some pretty rough things.

I had a roommate there that passed from neglect, put her in a wheelchair at 10 in the morning, and didn't take her out till 10 at night.

Sarah Dunning> That's part of my job, is to advocate for these individuals and let individuals and the community know that, you know, this is an issue and and people should be aware of, of these kinds of problems.

But there's.

Also a segment of the population who believes in keeping momma at home for her social security and her pension and not taking care of her.

And that's an affirmative act of abuse and neglect.

And you can also have self abuse and neglect In many cases where I meet with family members who are concerned about their aging parent, it is a situation where they're actually causing abuse or neglect to themselves by failure to accept help.

Kassi South> I think we have to really start changing the narrative of aging.

If we are constantly saying, oh, that's a bad nursing home, or avoiding those conversations, how many people want to go into a field and work at somewhere that is constantly getting bad publicity or bad P.R.?

Are there bad players?

Yes.

But is that the exception, not the rule?

Also, yes.

Narrator> With a vibrant network of family and friends, retired Clemson University professors, doctors Bhuvenesh and Dixie Goswami continue to value their independent lifestyle.

Dixie Goswami> I live in a house.

We're far from isolation.

They're always people coming in and out of Strawberry Lane.

I've always got a young person who's living here because they're homeless or because we want them to, or for whatever reason that helps.

She's a wonderful person.

I have never seen anybody who is so active, even at this age.

She gets up even before me in the morning.

She already has made her breakfast, and by the time I come down, she is, you know, ready to tell me what is, what is it that we need to do during the day?

Narrator> In 1968, Goswami, a bachelor, married Dixie Gooch, a young widow with six kids who was six years his senior.

Bhuvenesh Goswami> I came here, I was a bachelor at that time.

I was 30 years old and, she was teaching at Clemson and I was teaching at Clemson, and we were invited to a party.

I saw that she was one of the greatest minds.

She had, the story that she told me.

And at the same time, the activities, you know, within the department and that attracted me to her.

She's a beautiful person inside and out.

And I think I admired what she had gone through and she was going through every day, with a smile on her face.

Dixie Goswami> Everybody is going to suffer losses.

♪ One way to find joy in living in spite of that is to take great joy in small things that you experience that are positive.

Bhuvenesh Goswami> She never complained.

That was one thing, you know, that really attracted me to her.

Dixie Goswami> He seemed to be one of those wild and crazy Indians.

He was dancing.

I've never seen dance since then.

I can't imagine what in the world he asked me, why he asked me to marry him, But anyway, he did, and I jumped at the chance.

Bhuvenesh Goswami> We, both of us have been very active.

I had been traveling up until the Covid came, even after I retired.

When I retired in 2005, 2006.

Up until then, I was traveling all over the world.

Dixie, in the meantime, has been very active with her children, even though she had a, bad fall and she broke her neck in November of 2010, and she went to teach in the summer of 2011.

And it was remarkable to see her determination and her dedication to teaching and to her students.

Dixie Goswami> I would like to say that you don't get necessarily any wiser as you get older.

One of the things that keeps me going is I keep learning, and so lucky to be working and in touch with young people.

I'm part, colorectal network of young people from six states.

We are just now beginning to meet in person again, and they are going to have to come here to meet me the next time we get together.

But we meet on Zoom and any other way we can.

I'll never make the conscious choice of going into assisted living.

I've seen the good and the bad and the ugly.

And some of them are wonderful with dedicated, programs and people.

And I know that, if I didn't have a family network, I couldn't make those bold statements.

Bhuvenesh Goswami> We don't think we are at a stage, you know, that we want to move to, assisted homes or assisted places.

Strawberry Lane is like Grand Central Station.

I got neighbors I've had for 50 years across the street, and I got 8 grandchildren in there.

It ain't a bad place to be.

I mean, how are you going to feel bad when you got a little great granddaughter who loves you and makes you laugh, comes to see, my God.

We are Black, We are White, we're Brown.

We're from the Philippines, we're from India, we're from all of the damn place, and I am from rural South Carolina.

That's my home.

I still have a home that I can call home.

♪ Studies have shown how necessary social connection is to well-being.

There's studies recently that showed being lonely and socially isolated is as dangerous to your health as smoking 14 cigarets a day.

And, so what we try to do is for those seniors who are able to get out that they they have that social connection.

And that's where programs like an exercise class at a local senior center or just a lunch program to come together and share meals, meet new friends, have someone to check in on you are super important.

And that even applies our Meals on Wheels program for those homebound seniors.

Often the only person they see in a given day is the person who's delivered the meal.

And so that's their only human interaction for the day.

And it's that social connection that's oftentimes just as important to their health as the meals being served that day.

♪ Wilson Dillard> Here at Mountain View, where constantly help them battle loneliness, helplessness and boredom, which is really the main problem with people who have to live in an institutional setting.

It's the separation from family, separation from friends.

So we, as staff, try to fill that void by giving residents a meaningful opportunity each day to participate in activities, engage in discussions with each other as well as staff.

♪ Mom was staying, she and my father lived on the coast.

And so, I had found an assisted living for her on the coast, sort of near my family members, hoping that they could come and visit, you know, a little more often.

And her friends could come visit.

She had some friends down in that area.

But, the reality is, is that when you go into assisted living, you know, people just don't come to you as much as if you were out and about seeing people.

Sarah Dunning> Isolation is a huge issue in senior care and elder care in general.

We saw that during Covid.

We see the after effects of that now, but it has always been a part, I think of, of senior care in general.

Unfortunately, there are times when, especially now in South Carolina, we have a lot of folks that are moving here, and they're moving here to be a part of their grandchildren's lives.

And we welcome them, and they get here and their children are working, and their grandchildren are off doing their own thing.

And so they get here and they're removed from their social circle, and they're in a different community.

And maybe their family isn't around as much as they initially thought they would be.

And so they're very isolated from their support network, and perhaps then they have a fall or something, and they've moved into a long-term care facility, and then they become even more isolated.

There are those things that happen and people become depressed.

They don't want to, really and truly continue with living or making healthy decisions and things like that.

So it, isolation is a very, rampant problem with our seniors.

There are many times that, you know, people will say, "Well, I'll come see you in the facility," or "I'll come visit you, Grandma," and unfortunately, maybe those visits start when they first move in, but they become fewer and far between.

♪ [silence] Caregiving is a very, very multi-faceted role, and people do it out of love.

They do it because they care for the person they're doing this for.

♪ dramatic music ♪ ♪ Lynn Cornfoot> Being a caregiver, means that you are responsible for another human's life.

I'm a single woman, and I don't have children, but I do have a 92 year old mother, getting ready to go on 93.

I think that definitely it's a struggle when you become the caregiver.

It's first recognizing that that's actually who you are and also understanding it becomes a full time job.

So when you look at the different options available to you, sometimes they look a little more appealing than they did before.

Caregiving in general is extremely stressful.

It takes a lot out of caregivers.

And what we've seen in some studies is that caregivers sometimes get even more sick than the individuals that they're caring for because of the the mental load, the physical load, everything that they have to deal with.

So, it's a very important topic.

And, there's a big need for us to support our caregivers.

Lynn Cornfoot> So, you know, finding myself as a caretaker, you know, I don't have her in the home because there's no way that I could do that, in all honesty, and keep a job.

And I'm very lucky to be able to have placed her into, an assisted living to begin with, after my father died and then now she's in dementia care because she's getting older.

Luckily, we had saved up some money for that, but it is not cheap.

Renee Middleton> Being in the industry and working with healthcare it's interesting because I can tell everyone else what they should do, how to do it, what the resources are, but when you get to a point when it's very personal, things slightly shift.

So now I'm in a place where I'm maintaining my parents in their home and, making sure that they're safe, allowing them to have their independence as long as possible.

And that's important, personally and of course, professionally with our clientele.

We want people to remain independent as long as possible.

But of course, things happen.

So we're looking at the different options for the "what ifs."

What if this happens?

What if my father can no longer be a care provider?

What if my mother progressively gets to a point where she can't care for herself?

What am I to do as an individual who's still working, who still has a family, and trying to be able to give her the care that she needs?

Lynn Cornfoot> It's difficult when you're working with a facility because you do think when you first get in there that, oh, everything's taken care of and I can just come by, you know, maybe once a week, maybe less than that if I'm busy and they're, they're taken care of.

But, I will tell you that things fall through the cracks.

Renee Middleton> Family members, as caregivers are so vital, only because those individuals are they are day to day.

They know the habits of that individual.

They can kind of give you a brief overview, even when sending a private caregiver in, what that person's day looks like.

But, being a home care professional, understanding that we are necessary to give that individual a break.

There are approximately 219,000 caregivers in South Carolina.

It is estimated that family and other significant others, render some 361,000,000 hours of unpaid care, with a total value of five billion, five hundred fifty million dollars.

Dale Watson> Well, for me, being a long term care Ombudsman, is the best job in our agency.

We have the job of advocating, educating and just being sure that their rights are being honored and people treating folks who live in these facilities with dignity and respect.

Patient A> I ended up losing my house and was foreclosed and I couldn't do it, but there was a little bit of money that came through and they weren't going to give any of it to me for what, 12 or 13 months?

And my advocate, my Ombudsman stepped in and had a big discussion with them.

Dale Watson> So if you need long term care in a nursing home and you, qualify for Medicaid, then they take your income, all but 30 dollars and apply it towards your care.

So if you have an income of 2,000 dollars a month, they will take all but 30 dollars of that and apply it to what your care in Medicaid will pay the rest.

Tripp Rhodes> We was getting 30 dollars a month and you buy, you know, a pair of pants or something.

You had to wait till the next month to, get, you know, anything else.

And if you wanted to eat out and have it delivered, you know, that one meal could cost you.

And then you had to wait till the next month to get the next, you know.

Narrator> Effective October 1st, 2025, the personal needs allowance doubled from 30 dollars per month to 60 dollars per month.

This marked the first increase since 1987.

Jennifer Brewton> In South Carolina, it's estimated from the Alzheimer's Disease Registry, which is housed at, run by the University of South Carolina, that 11 percent of the population over the age of 65 is living with a diagnosis of dementia.

Sarah Dunning> Dementia in itself is a disease that affects so many people.

You're not going to find anybody that doesn't know about dementia, or doesn't have a family member or a loved one with dementia.

Maggi Miller> We are one of four population based registries in the United States.

We focus on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

We are the oldest of the four, and we are the most comprehensive.

With our most current year of data.

We know that there's over 125,000 individuals.

Living with the disease in the state.

Jennifer Brewton> We've got more South Carolinians living with a dementia diagnosis than would fit in Williams Bryce.

♪ Maggi Miller> What we have seen is in the Pee Dee region of the state, we see the highest number of cases there, and then also in the upstate, we see cases that are more related to vascular dementia, and the Pee Dee reaches more Alzheimer's dementia.

Along the I-95 corridor on the eastern part of the state, we see a large number of cases there.

If someone has a higher risk of stroke, more cardiovascular disease, they may have diabetes, or other certain comorbidities that are in, you know, that they have lived with for a long period of time, that does predispose them to developing Alzheimer's or related dementias.

Kassi South> Orangeburg County is number eight in the entire country for the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease.

We're talking about behind Miami and The Bronx.

Those are staggering statistics, and we need to be prepared within our communities, to be able to have the resources, the financial resources, our programs, to be able to have a safety net for people as they age.

Victor Hirth> And I would say in the population of people that I deal with, which is 80 plus, that has really become a bit of an epidemic.

Maggi Miller> Age is a leading risk factor for Alzheimer's, but it is, Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging.

Kassi South> On a state level, one of the greatest things about the Alzheimer's disease, and Related Dementias Task Force is that it's bringing all of these groups that have typically been siloed.

It's bringing all of those stakeholders to the table, and that's a really important piece that South Carolina's actively working on.

♪ ♪ soft music ♪ Danny Sanford> I'm part of a national association called Leading Age National.

Leading Age National is, all it does is represents not for profit senior living of all types, whether it's affordable housing, assisted living, skilled nursing, continuing care, retirement communities like where we are today.

They represent all of those.

And they have been beating the drum for as long as my career has lasted about this age wave coming.

What our Congress, Senate has done about that is that they've kicked the can, and kicked the can, and kicked the can, and they've never dealt with what's coming.

So now we see a social security system that is not sustainable, a Medicare system that's not sustainable, a medicaid system that is not sustainable, in fact, has just gotten cut severely.

We act like this is brand new information that we're just now being faced with.

Andrew Boozer> It takes a constant process of reminding them, don't forget the seniors and the impact of what a budget conversation may be.

And so every year, every budget cycle is a mixed bag.

Some years we may make some progress in one area, but recede in the other.

Calvin Elam> In a lot of studies that about one third of baby boomers use, 90 percent of their income comes from one source, so, and that's Social Security.

And that's really become a big, big challenge.

And then the other thing I think that really resonates is the cost of health care.

So health care continues to rise and we don't see that, you know, kind of alleviating anytime soon.

Sarah Clingman> I think that is disingenuous for anyone.

To think that people who are aging and people who are disabled can financially take personal responsibility for their health care.

You can't get health insurance that is affordable if you have no money.

You can't get Medicaid unless you have no money.

Calvin Elam> In order to even get to a nursing home, right, with Medicaid, the assets have to be out of your account five years prior.

So you can't say that.

Yeah, I think I want to qualify, and go to, a medicaid facility or a nursing home.

You can't do it if you've got assets over a certain amount.

Wilson Dillard> Mountainview participate in the Medicaid program and to this day, Medicaid sponsorship is our focus.

Medicaid recipients receive priority for admission to Mountainview.

Narrator> Sadly, Mountainview is one of eight South Carolina nursing homes at risk of closure due to the federal budget bill.

♪ Danny Sanford> With the recent new budget that takes money away from the Medicaid program, and continues to do that for the foreseeable future, and all the other changes that have come in really is going to be detrimental to the average American in the aging process.

Andrew Boozer> The biggest challenge that aging is you just don't know what's next.

You don't know when your health is going to have a challenge.

You don't know when your family or friend circle changes.

Somebody moves away or passes away and somebody was there for you your whole life isn't there anymore.

You just don't know.

And so the way to combat that is to think ahead and to be ready and have plans in place.

How can you live independently when your health declines?

Don't wait for your health to decline to to start that planning.

Start doing that earlier.

Kimberly Borts> And I think the more that we can educate everyone about what is aging and what sometimes services you need when you're aging is really important.

But I think the beauty of aging is the fact that you can take all of your life's experiences and you can determine what's going to be next.

Life does not end when you retire.

Life does not end when you're 70, when you're 80, when you're 90.

♪ I was just home and I said, I can't sit in this house.

I need something to do.

I always been active all my days working.

And so, everybody say, "Wyona, why don't you come home and sit down?"

I said, "No, I got to keep moving."

And I just enjoy working and being out with people.

I like to connect people and see how people act in their old age.

So after I got this program, they said, "Wyona, don't you think you qualify for the program?"

I said, "I am, but I'm site manager of it."

[laughs] This is a program for seniors.

It's funded through the Appalachia Council of Government and Meals on Wheels have the grant for the next five years to administer the program.

And I am the site manager.

Our first program started in 2019, April 2019.

Age range, we have to be 65 and older and 65 to 99 years old.

We had one, person turn 99 in July of this year.

We have several people in their 90s and they can't wait to get here, and most of them still able to drive their self to and from the center.

After coming a couple times, I found, you know, I like the interaction with the seniors.

I've seen what an advantage the program was.

Just people getting out the house, the older seniors and how much they were enjoyed and it finally grew in me and I would enjoy this coming, get up in the morning having someplace to go.

And we start, I guess, spending some time together.

And I realized that something was special about this lady.

About a year later, at one of our meetings, we had talked about it.

I said, "I'm gonna asked you to marry me and see what you say."

And in March 15, we got married.

Wyona Ashley> I look at aging as, it's a gift.

It's how you treat yourself from early age up, exercising, eating, having a positive outlook on life.

We should speak life, rather than death, and that's the way I do now.

I speak life in every situation, regardless to our moans, groans, we should not let it take the advantage of us.

Just enjoy life every day.

You wake up every morning and it's a blessing to see a new day.

♪ ♪