Opinion: S.C. seniors deserve reliable, accessible and affordable transportation options
A trip to the doctor’s office. Picking up medicine at the pharmacy. Stopping for lunch with friends. Swinging by the grocery store on the way home.
For most South Carolinians, these are routine daily activities. However, for many senior citizens who lack accessible and affordable transportation, completing these tasks can be insurmountable. Stuck in their own homes, they are forced to watch the world go by through their front windows. The results are that they become socially isolated, their health declines, and their independence is lost.
Communities with effective, senior-friendly public transportation services can help keep these seniors healthy and happy, and the time is now for South Carolina to make transportation for seniors a priority. In the 2020 census, 18.2% of our population was considered "elderly," being over 65. This has been growing at a rapid rate, with a 92% increase from the 2000 census, and trends show that as soon as 2030, South Carolina will have more seniors than youths. But many seniors do not have the ability to leave their homes and South Carolina is not investing enough in senior-focused transportation systems.
The challenge that we need to overcome is determining how South Carolina can support healthy aging in place while preventing social isolation. Social isolation can have many causes: retirement; inability to leave your home; deaths of friends, family, and pets; and/or relocations of friends and family. As it turns out, social isolation is one of the biggest health threats to our rapidly growing aging population.
The U.S. Surgeon General just released the 2023 advisory on the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation. The advisory cites research that shows how isolation has the equivalent negative healthy outcome of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. According to the CDC, social isolation can lead to a 50% increase in dementia (at an earlier age); a 32% increase in stroke; 29% increase in heart disease; and a 26% increase in premature mortality.
And all of these consequences come not only with health costs but also financial costs. A 2017 AARP and Stanford University study found isolation results in $6.7 billion of additional Medicare spending each year. As that isolation continues and health deteriorates, seniors often lose the ability to age in place at home, and they move to long-term care facilities.
A 2011 study by the National Library of Medicine showed that a senior who ages in place with community supports, like accessible transportation, save Medicare/Medicaid programs nearly $20,000 per year. In a state where almost 23% of the Medicaid budget is to cover long-term care, these cost-effective interventions like transportation for daily living can actually reduce state spending.
It is time for South Carolina to support the fastest-growing demographic in our state by improving the quality of life for seniors. Investing in accessible transportation systems that keep seniors connected and healthy is the right thing to do.
Our older neighbors deserve better than watching the world go by out their front windows.
Andrew Boozer is the executive director of Senior Resources in Columbia, leading a team of staff and volunteers who provide transportation, Meals on Wheels, senior center programming, in-home services, AmeriCorps Seniors programs, and other support services to thousands of older adults in Richland County.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Opinion: Why senior transportation would be wise investment for S.C.
