Cayce Police Department starts new program to help elderly population
CAYCE, SC (WOLO) — The city of Cayce is home to more than 13,000 residents, with 17 percent of the population over the age of 65.
Many seniors are unaware of the resources available to them in their own community.
“The police department would like to be your informational hub for all of your seniors,” said Cayce police officer Jarvis Riley. “If something is going wrong in your house, we would like you to come to us to see how we can possibly help.”
Riley came up with a new program called CASE because of his own 90 year old relative.
“After visiting with my grandmother and noticing that she needed some help, I brought it to the chief’s attention,” Riley said. “I told him that this is something that can help our community.”
CASE stands for Cayce Assisting Seniors and Elderly and is geared towards advocating for those who might not have someone to do so.
“Once a senior has registered with us, we give them weekly phone calls to see how they’re doing and if there’s anything we can help them with,” Riley said. “We will also have an officer go out to their home and check on them if we cannot contact them.”
CASE also connects seniors to resources in the community such as the Lexington County Recreation and Aging Commission.
“We also operate as a hub to deliver meals to homebound seniors in the community,” said Patrick Sippel with Lexington County Recreation & Aging Commission. “We have a lot of services such as telephone assurance, Meals on Wheels, and medical escorts.”
The commission also has wellness centers all over Lexington County.
“We have programs catered towards older adults as far as the workout routine you will be put through,” Sippel said. “We also have an adult trainer that will work with a specific program and work with whatever your needs are.”
CASE hosted a luncheon on Tuesday but hopes to grow the program moving forward.
“One of the things we hope to do with the program in the future is to hold quarterly meetings so we can present this information to larger groups,” Riley concluded.
Find out more information about the program here.
