USC’s new Brain Health Clinic in Sumter offers hope to underserved Alzheimer’s patients

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - According to the University of South Carolina (USC), 122,000 South Carolinians aged 65 and over are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias right now.

Those staggering numbers are why the University of South Carolina’s Brain Health Project has partnered with Prisma Health to ensure statewide access to cognitive care.

Monday was the ribbon cutting for USC’s second clinic at Prisma Health Toumey.

The USC Brain Health network said their clinic in Sumter is another location aimed at assisting the underserved individuals in what they said is a health and wealth gap across South Carolina. They said the clinic will provide care to those who may not have the opportunity to seek it anywhere else.

The ribbon cutting brought contributors from across the state. USC President Micheal Amiridis, Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington and Speaker of the House Murrell Smith, R- Sumter and several others were in attendance.

One of the biggest points discussed by USC President Michael Amiridis was why early screening for Alzheimer’s and dementia can aid the growing risk in South Carolina. He said South Carolina’s underserved areas could be seeing a greater risk for Alzheimer’s and Dementia based on their location.

“Those 65 and older tend to avoid larger metropolitan areas like Columbia or Greenville for treatment or scanning because of commute. He added by saying, " Smith said, “If the same level of expertise were offered in smaller and rural areas these preventative initiatives are easily accessible. If we create a rural health network that provides services that otherwise wouldn’t be available to the citizens of the underserved areas, access to this care. Today is just another notch in that belt as we move forward of giving access to care.”

USC Brain Health clinics are located in Winnsboro and Sumter.

Shealy said she had a personal experience with Alzheimer’s after her husband was diagnosed. She said this goal is close to her because she too understands the hardships that come along with finding expert care.

“Maybe you don’t have dementia, maybe you don’t have Alzheimer’s but maybe it’s something else, maybe this is going to give you the opportunity to find out what it is, and I think that that, you know the struggles that I went through and I have the channels to find out that information. Everybody needs that opportunity; you shouldn’t have to know somebody to get help,” Shealy said.

USC Brain Health plans to open another clinic this summer in Seneca. By 2026 they hope to open one in Columbia, to serve as a hub for exceptional cognitive care through clinical innovation and research.

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