Changing with time: elder-care options are expanding to keep pace with North Carolina's growing population of retirees, whose care needs and amenity requirements are varied.

• Author: Blake, Kathry
• Position: SPONSORED SECTION: GOLDEN YEARS

Sidewalks wind through Carol Woods' tree-filled 120 acres. Its almost 500 residents follow them from cottages, town homes and apartments to the fitness center, pool, library, art studio and three-story health center. They also take part in any of 90 committees and special-interest groups or even the community's board of directors, where they have a voice in everything from fee changes to the social lounge's carpet color. Residents are encouraged to get involved, develop lasting friendships and share talents and experiences developed during their careers and past adventures. This isn't a place to slow down.

Its name derived from the forested campus, Carol Woods in Chapel Hill is a continuing care retirement com munity, where older adults transition from independent living to assisted living and then skilled nursing care as they age. "We were the first CCRC in our area," says President and CEO Patricia Sprigg, who has 40 years of elder-care experience. "We were the first who designed neighborhood skilled nursing and small houses. We were one of the first to introduce assisted living to our campus, and we were the first to introduce the option of remaining in your own home out in the larger community. We will never stop expanding our thinking or our innovation when it comes to serving older adults."

North Carolina is home to 15 CCRCs, which are mostly in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill and Southern Pines-Pinehurst regions. Residents pay an entrance fee--often between [dollar]200,000 and [dollar]400,000--and a monthly fee, usually between [dollar]2,000 and [dollar]4,000. The latter covers recreational and social amenities, utilities and even meals. But CCRCs are only one option for where older North Carolinians can spend their golden years. There are others ready to meet the diverse social, economic and care needs of this growing segment of the population.

Carolina Demography, a consulting service of UNC Chapel Hills Carolina Population Center, predicts more than one in five U.S. residents will be 65 or older by 2035. North Carolina will be home to 2.5 million of them, up from 1.4 million or 14.3% of the state's population in 2013. The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, a nonprofit focusing on national health issues, says 36,722 people in North Carolina lived in certified nursing facilities in 2015.

Megan Lamphere is section chief for adult-care licensure at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. It licenses more than 1,400 adult care homes...