Office for the Study Of Aging at the University of South Carolina : Promoting healthy aging through program development, evaluation, education/training and research for South Carolina's Older Adults

The Office for the Study Aging (OSA) at the University of South Carolina was established in 1988 “to promote healthy aging through program development, evaluation, education/training and research” with the founding of the SC Alzheimer’s Registry, one of only three such registries, and the most comprehensive, in the nation. Over the last twenty-five years the OSA has furthered this mission through the development of research and programs for all of South Carolina’s aging populace. Examples include the award winning Placemat Strength Training Program, the Dementia Dialogues program that has trained over 20,000 individuals in dementia and Alzheimer’s care, and the South Carolina Vulnerable Adult Guardian ad Litem program which trains volunteers to serve as unbiased representatives for vulnerable adults under adult protective custody in cases of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The work of the Office for the Study of Aging is supported through a unique university-government partnership that supports innovative work that provides direct lines for dissemination and implementation of pilot programs and projects to family caregivers, direct care workers, professionals, and patients. The work of the office has directly resulted into two state legislative bills being signed into law that support older and aging adults and has been recognized through awards and countless publications. The OSA model provides a glimpse of a government-university-community partnership that offers a dissemination and translation pipeline for programs to be developed, piloted, revised, and enacted into policy.