SOCIAL Aging

Overview
South Carolina’s Operation to Confront Social Isolation and Loneliness (SOCIAL Aging), is a state-wide coalition dedicated to reducing social isolation in older adults. This coalition is responsible for tracking the progress of the guiding framework from state-specific recommendations to reduce social isolation in older adults. These recommendations were developed by the Social Isolation in Older Adults Taskforce led by the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health and the South Carolina Department on Aging. The recommendations and full report can be found in Addressing Social Isolation in Older Adults as a Determinant of Health.

Structure
SOCIAL Aging is modeled after the Collective Impact. The Collective Impact “is a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems-level change” (Collective Impact Form, 2024). The infrastructure consists of a backbone support agency, a steering committee, workgroups and members, and coalition members. All members and organizations work to strive towards a common goal: to end social isolation in older adults across South Carolina. To learn more about the infrastructure and members view the Roles & Member List.

Involvement
If you are interested in actively addressing (or have questions about) social isolation in older adults in South Carolina, please contact the OSA.