Who This Page Is For
This page is for case managers, senior services and home health staff, volunteers and relatives who support an unpaid family caregiver. A caregiver can also call for themselves.
You do not need to choose a practice; we route each referral to the right one.
What Caregiving Can Cost
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls caregiving rewarding but demanding, and notes that it can make it hard for caregivers to look after their own health. More than 11 million adults in the United States give unpaid care to someone living with dementia, nearly 1 in 3 of them for four years or more, and CDC reports that these caregivers face a higher risk of anxiety and depression than other caregivers.
CDC encourages caregivers to tell their own doctor about the caregiving role, to ask family and friends for help with a specific task or block of time, and to take breaks; it notes that even a few hours of respite a week can improve well-being.
When Low Mood Lasts
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) describes depression as symptoms such as ongoing sadness, loss of interest, low energy, sleep changes and trouble concentrating that last most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks. NIMH says depression is treatable and suggests a health care provider as a good first contact.
Care Through Hope Health Network
Hope Medical Associates provides primary care, including care for diabetes, hypertension and COPD, the Medicare yearly wellness visit, and help establishing a primary care provider after a hospital stay.
Hope Behavioral Medicine provides psychiatric medication management and counseling for adults with anxiety, depression, ADHD, insomnia, PTSD, OCD, bipolar disorder and postpartum depression, in person in West Ashley and by video.
Hope Addiction Medicine provides medication-assisted treatment for opioid and alcohol use disorders. Treatment typically begins with an in-person assessment, followed by weekly in-person or virtual visits before moving to a monthly schedule, and each plan is tailored to the patient.
Hope Integrative Medicine offers primary care, mental health and addiction medicine with one coordinating team, for patients who want all their care coordinated.
Mental health care is available by video anywhere in South Carolina. A video visit can save a caregiver a trip.
How to Refer
With the caregiver's permission, you can refer by phone, fax or form. Call and ask for referral intake, fax referral documentation, or use the online form on our referral page. The form gathers contact and routing details only, so send clinical notes by fax.
We typically contact the patient within two business days of a faxed referral, and initial evaluations are often able to be scheduled within a week of the request. If the patient needs to be seen sooner, call us.
Our practices accept Medicare, most major commercial plans, and all South Carolina Medicaid managed care plans except Select Health (First Choice). Self-pay rates are also available.
In a Crisis
Our practices are not an emergency service, and the referral form is not monitored for emergencies. For someone in crisis, call or text 988, and in immediate danger, call 911.