Charleston Senior AdvisorWhat do Charleston families ask most about senior care?
The most common questions concern South Carolina's CRCF license, memory care units, what care costs and who pays, choosing a community, residents' rights and complaints, and where to find free local help.
Every answer below opens with the direct answer and names the regulation, program or agency behind it.
Assisted living licensing questions from Charleston-area families
- What does CRCF mean on a Charleston assisted living license?
- Is DHEC still the agency that licenses assisted living?
- Are there different levels of assisted living license in South Carolina?
- How often does the state inspect assisted living in Charleston?
Memory care questions from Lowcountry families
- Does South Carolina license memory care separately?
- What must a memory care program tell families in writing?
- How many staff must work on a memory care unit at night?
- Can someone with dementia live in regular assisted living?
Cost, Medicaid, Medicare and VA questions for Charleston-area families
- What is the median cost of assisted living near Charleston?
- Does Medicare pay for assisted living?
- What is Optional State Supplementation?
- What are South Carolina's 2026 Medicaid limits for long-term care?
Choosing a community: questions to ask around Charleston
- How many assisted living facilities should we tour?
- What documents should we ask for before choosing?
- Which staffing questions matter most?
- How do we check a facility's enforcement history?
Residents' rights and complaints in South Carolina
- What rights do residents of South Carolina facilities have?
- Where do we complain about a Charleston-area facility?
- Who handles abuse in a facility in Berkeley, Charleston or Dorchester County?
- Who handles abuse or neglect of a senior living at home?
Where Charleston-area families get free help
- Who is the Area Agency on Aging for Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties?
- Where can we get free Medicare counseling?
- Who takes referrals for the Community Choices waiver?
- Where do we apply for Medicaid or OSS?
Where do these answers come from?
From Regulation 60-84, South Carolina statutes such as the Bill of Rights for Residents of Long Term Care Facilities, SCDHHS bulletins and waiver charts, CMS, the VA, the Trident Area Agency on Aging and CareScout's 2025 South Carolina cost survey.
Where no published figure exists, such as a Charleston-only cost median or any memory care median, the answer says so instead of estimating. When a rule or benefit amount changes, the reference page is updated first and the answers follow.
What if my question is not answered here?
Use the care-match questions on any page to reach an advisor, or call the Trident Area Agency on Aging for program questions; the reference sections on South Carolina rules, costs and comparisons also go deeper than these short answers.
Questions about a specific building's record are best answered from the directory, which shows its DPH license, Alzheimer's flag, enforcement history and, for nursing homes, CMS ratings.
