COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s isn’t just fatal but can also be incredibly overwhelming to the person diagnosed and their loved ones.

Advocates in the fight against this disease say many times, people don’t know what resources are available, adding extra strain to an already stressful situation.

A new tool will soon be available in all parts of South Carolina to let residents know that help is out there.

Over the last two-plus years, a worker known as a dementia care specialist has assisted hundreds of South Carolina families fighting Alzheimer’s and related dementias to navigate what help is available to them.

Money from the state legislature will soon expand that reach tenfold.

“The dementia care specialist program is an absolutely innovative strategy to address our caregiver needs in South Carolina,” Taylor Wilson with the Alzheimer’s Association South Carolina Chapter said.

The program is one advocates like Wilson believe will better serve the more than 200,000 people serving as caregivers for the estimated 120,000-plus South Carolinians living with Alzheimer’s and related dementia right now.

“That’s more than would fill Williams-Brice Stadium,” Jennifer Brewton, Caregiver and Alzheimer’s Resource Division Director for the South Carolina Department on Aging, said.

Lawmakers allocated $1.1 million in the current state budget to expand the number of dementia care specialists in South Carolina from one to 10.

These workers will connect those diagnosed with dementia and their caregivers with local resources — for example, community meal services, clinical trials in their area, and caregiver support services.

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How to get help: Point of contact

“In a state that’s almost 80% rural, finding resources can be incredibly hard,” Wilson said.

Those are also the parts of South Carolina with some of the highest rates of dementia.

So that is where the Department on Aging said the new care specialists will be hired first: In the Pee Dee region, made up of Chesterfield, Marlboro, Dillon, Florence, Marion, and Darlington counties; along with the Lower Savannah region, including Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, and Orangeburg counties; and the Catawba region, comprised of Union, Chester, Lancaster, and York counties.

“That’s really what this is about, is providing those resources to caregivers, without caregivers who are already overwhelmed, already overworked, already in an emotional and financial deficit because of this diagnosis — they’re now able to get the resources to help them provide better care,” Wilson said.

With these 10 specialists focused on 10 different regions of the state, hyperlocal help will be available in all 46 counties, according to the Department on Aging.

Once hired, specialists will be placed directly in those communities, in spaces like public libraries.

“As much as we try to educate, there’s still a stigma attached,” Department on Aging Director Connie Munn said. “In a small, rural area, everyone knows everybody, and you know your business — but by going into a library, it’s a safe space for them to go in and get the education and get the information they need.”

The Department on Aging said it has begun the hiring process and plans to have all the new specialists in place by next June.

Once it is rolled out, this will be just the fourth statewide program of its kind in the nation, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.