Senior Mentor Program

If you are interested in becoming a senior mentor or have any questions about the program,
please call Alyssia Barnes 843-792-5721

Senior Mentor Program
The Senior Mentor Program is a program that connects medical students from the Medical University of South Carolina with people aged 65 years and older living in the Charleston, SC area. The goals of the program are:

The target population of the program is MUSC’s undergraduate medical students. With America entering into the “baby boomer” generation, 10,000 individuals will turn 65 every day for the next 20 years, resulting in 78 million more elderly individuals in the United States alone. Students currently entering and completing medical school will increasingly be called upon to treat an aging population. The rationale for exposing undergraduate medical students to healthy, community dwelling elders through a long-term experience is to provide a patient contact experience early in medical training, to improve knowledge of aging, and to have a positive effect on students’ attitudes toward caring for older adults. Students are paired with "healthy" seniors in the community and they are able to perform a series of assignments that they have learned in a classroom setting, i.e. taking a medical history, performing a blood pressure screening, performing a fall risk assessment. The program is specifically designed for an in home setting where both parties are comfortable and are able to learn more in a non-clinical setting.

What is the Senior Mentor Program?

The Senior Mentor Program is a volunteer program that connects medical students from the Medical University of South Carolina with people aged 65 years and older living in the greater Charleston, SC area. The goals of the program are:

Absolutely! The Senior Mentor Program will have no affect on your regular medical care. It is independent of regular doctor visits to your personal physician and is not intended to provide medical care.

If you are a healthy senior, 65 years or older and are interested in participating in the program, please contact us.

Dr. Kathleen Wiley began as the new Director of the Senior Mentor Program in June 2008, and we have recently hired a new Program Manager for the program, Ms. Rebekah Hardin. Ms. Hardin has a Masters degree in Health Administration. Many of our activities are dependent on volunteers, especially the Senior Mentor Program. In addition to the senior mentors and their organizations, we have many managers and health care providers who are volunteering to work with our education and outreach programs. The Senior Mentor Program now has over 400 active senior mentors, who are all volunteering to train our future medical doctors. These mentors live in the greater Charleston Community. Every year the Senior Mentor Program recruits seniors living independently and seniors living in senior communities. Annual Report to Provost Center on Aging 2009 8

The first year of medical students to participate in the Senior Mentor Program graduated in May of 2009. The Senior Mentor program held a graduation ceremony and luncheon for the graduating class and their mentors in March 2009. Speakers at the graduation ceremony were as follows:

Kathleen Wiley, MD
Associate Professor, Internal Medicine and Geriatrics
Director, Senior Mentor Program

Lotta Granholm, DDS, PhD
Professor Department of Neurosciences
Director, Center on Aging

Richard Marks, Jr, MD
Chairman, Department of Radiology Oncology 1985-1988, MUSC
Class of 2009 mentor