The Alzheimer's Association estimates that some 170,000 people have Alzheimer's in North Carolina. This figure is expected to grow 23.5 percent to 210,000 people by 2025.
Orange County, NC, is located in north central North Carolina, and its largest community is Chapel Hill. Its population as of July 2017 is estimated to be 144,946 residents, 13.4 percent of whom are 65 or over. To accommodate these seniors who may have Alzheimer's or dementia, there are six memory care facilities in Orange County, all of them located in Chapel Hill.
In Orange County as in the rest of North Carolina, memory care facilities are officially known as Special Care Units (SCUs) within Adult Care Homes (ACHs). The state considers ACHs to be a type of assisted living residence (ALR).