Augusta expected to see increase in senior population

Sept. 25--The death of former WJBF-TV personality Jim Davis shocked many Augustans who grew up with his classic baritone on their nightly news for three decades.

But it was no surprise for his wife, Gerry. She was by his side while he battled myelodysplasia, the rare blood disorder that claimed the lives of author Nora Ephron. She was there when doctors told the him that he had six months to live. And she was at home May 22, 2013, when -- nearly six months to the day of his prognosis -- he died at age 88.

"Through it all, he never lost his voice," she recalled. "Or his sense of humor."

He was the quintessential Southern gentleman; his wife never opened doors, pumped gas or worried about much of anything when he was around. The prospect of tending to her own affairs wasn't discussed.

"We didn't sit down and say, 'We're going to put this much money here and do this and do that.' We just didn't have those conversations," the 91-year-old Davis said during a recent interview at home, Benton House of Augusta, a senior community.

"We didn't know we were going to get that old. It was just there," she said. "One day we looked at each other and we were in our 80s."

THE COUPLE'S SCENARIO is far from unique.

Modern lifestyles and medical advances have stretched life expectancies to the point where millions will outlive their ability to live independently -- and often their money. Children can't always be the caregivers.

The elderly population is being swelled by post-retirement age baby boomers, who will need everything from occasional assistance with daily chores all the way to 24-hour "memory care" supervision for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

Census figures say Georgia will have the nation's 10th fastest-growing 85-and-older population by 2030 -- the same year that South Carolina's 65-and-older population will outnumber its school-age children.

The Central Savannah Area Regional Commission reports the 13-county area's population over 65 will nearly double by 2030 to 90,450 seniors, with the bulk of them living in Richmond and Columbia counties.

With the metro area routinely popping up on national "best places to retire" lists -- and Augusta's commitment three years ago to achieve the AARP/World Health Organization "Age-Friendly" designation -- the implication is that the region's future will be gray.

"It's going to be transformative," said Jeanette Cummings, the director of the CSRA Area Agency on Aging.

NOWHERE ARE LOCAL preparations for the demographic tidal wave more visible than in the rapidly expanding senior housing industry, a sector that includes everything from 55-and-older "independent living" apartments to state-licensed care facilities providing 24-hour nursing services.

Some of the nation's biggest senior-living companies have planted flags in the area in recent years, including the industry leader, Brookdale Senior Living Inc. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based developer operates two local assisted-living communities -- Brookdale Augusta on Boy Scout Road, and Brookdale North Augusta on North Hills Drive.

Morningside of Evans, a personal care apartment complex off North Belair Road, is owned by Five Star Senior Living, the nation's No. 5 operator, according to the American Seniors Housing Association.

Louisville, Ky.-based Senior Living, an ASHA "Top 50" company, runs Elmcroft of Augusta on Furys Ferry Road in Martinez. Augusta also is home to three of the 300 facilities operated by Plano, Texas-based Golden Living: Windermere, a skilled nursing facility on J. Dewey Gray Circle near Doctors Hospital; and two Golden Living Center-Augusta facilities on

Lee Street near Trinity Hospital.

The national companies join a bevy of facilities operated by local health care providers such as University Health Care System's Kentwood and Amara extended-care facilities in Richmond County and Westwood in Columbia County. University's oldest senior development, Columbia County's Brandon Wilde "life care community" in Evans, is a nationally known facility that helped pioneer the upscale submarket known as "continuing care retirement communities."

Just last month, a Hattiesburg, Miss.-based real estate developer, CR Properties, announced plans to build an upscale senior community on Furys Ferry Road called The Claiborne at West Lake, which will feature 70 assisted living units and a 30-unit memory-care wing for residents with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

"It's amazing how many places are coming, and how many places we still need," said Margaret Kopp, the community relations director for Benton House of Augusta, where Gerry Davis lives.

BENTON HOUSE, WHICH opened last fall on Interstate Parkway, is a high-end, 45-unit assisted living community with a 14-unit memory-care wing.

Developed by Roswell, Ga.-based Principal Senior Living Group, the facility reached 96 percent occupancy within weeks of its Oct. 5 opening.

Freed from having to worry about daily chores such as cooking and cleaning, Davis has been able to more voraciously partake in the community's various activities and meet new people.

Benton House, like virtually all new senior communities in the metro area, markets to seniors with retirement assets or long-term care insurance capable of covering the costs. A 2014 national cost survey by Genworth Financial said the median monthly rate for a one-bedroom assisted-living unit was $3,500 a month -- costs that many people mistakenly think are covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

Many of the new upscale communities, including the planned Claiborne at West Lake development, are locating in Columbia County. That's where the average income for households headed by people 60 or older -- $67,388 -- is the highest in the metro area.

The luxury Marshall Square senior community that was destroyed by fire in Evans in 2015 was a traditional residential complex, meaning it employed no medical staff for residents. The only health care they received is what they arranged for with third-party providers.

Many of those displaced residents now live in other area senior facilities.

Developers of the new Claiborne community say income and population demographics played a key role in their site selection.

"We took a look at the fastest growing cities over a certain population and Augusta was one of them," said Craig Tatum, a partner in CR Properties. "Then we found out Columbia County was the 28th fastest-growing county in the U.S. and we started doing more research over there. I met with a guy at Starbucks and he said, 'If you would have been here 10 years ago, you wouldn't recognize the place.' To me, that's a good place to want to build."

The development will feature shopping center-like amenities such as a spa, a salon, a dining area with a separate sports pub room and a media center with a library and movie theater.

THOSE WHO CAN'T afford upscale and luxury senior living options can end up in places they don't want to be, whether it is substandard housing they can't maintain or at nursing home facilities whose medical care they don't need.

"The gap is not now in the lower or upper income brackets, it's more the middle, moderate-income," said Cummings, the Area Agency on Aging director. "It's difficult to find nice options at an affordable cost, not only in our region, but nationwide."

Earlier this month San Francisco-based EfficientGov, a website covering municipal issues, listed Georgia and South Carolina seventh and eighth, respectively, on its Top 10 Worst States for Senior Low Income Housing list based on population and number of affordable developments.

Augusta's largest operator of mid- to low-priced senior housing, Walton Foundation for Independence, has 15 communities for seniors and people with disabilities, such as Walton Terrace in Augusta and Vincent Village in North Augusta.

But all 247 of its units are occupied.

"For the senior housing, we have a three-year waiting list," CEO Dennis Skelley said. "For housing for people with disabilities, it's five years."

THOUGH MODERN SENIOR-LIVING communities are more like resorts and boast layouts ranging from small apartments to spacious cottages, studies show most older Americans still prefer to "age in place." That is, remain in their homes their entire lives.

Whatever people want their sunset years to look like, they and their families need to plan for options now to avoid having to make hasty decisions when events such as a spouse's death or a debilitating injury force the choice.

Troy Breitmann, a vice president and certified trust and financial advisor with Queensborough National Bank & Trust, said there are numerous products and programs to help families of all incomes -- his company's is called the Family Care Kit -- to identify and realistically plan for elder care options.

Though Gerry Davis' sunset years weren't mapped out, she was fortunate to have the time -- and financial wherewithal -- to decide on her own how she would spend them.

"This is the best decision that I ever made," she said. "This is home."

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