Thousands of family caregivers packed into the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Durham this week for Duke Health's annual Caregiver Community Event, which organizers say sold out for the first time in its history. More than 2,000 people registered for the two-day gathering held Tuesday and Wednesday, a dramatic leap from the 40 attendees who showed up when the event launched back in 2009.
The surge in demand tracks with North Carolina's rapidly shifting demographics. According to WRAL, North Carolina has now surpassed Florida to become the number one aging destination in the United States. WRAL health reporter Grace Hayba, who covered the event, noted that the state's Department of Health and Human Services has reported that 88 counties now have more residents over age 60 than under age 18.
Nicole Clagett, Duke Health's director of caregiver support, said the need for this kind of gathering has grown directly alongside the state's aging population. She told the station that caregiving can be an isolating experience, and events like this one give people a community around them rather than leaving them to navigate it alone.
Chronic Disease and the Medication Maze
The stakes behind that isolation are steep. The state health department has reported that 76 percent of adults over age 65 live with one or more chronic diseases, and roughly a third of North Carolina's aging population lives with a disability, per the same WRAL report. Those overlapping health burdens often translate into complicated medication regimens that caregivers are left to manage on their own.
That is where Dr. Delon Canterbury, a geriatric pharmacist with GeriatRx, came in. He said caregivers need an easy resource to identify which medications might be worsening a loved one's quality of life, since drugs can cause behavioral changes, dizziness, balance difficulties, and memory loss. Canterbury provided free medication reviews at the event, giving families a chance to walk through their loved ones' prescription lists with a specialist. His work echoes a broader concern documented in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology and reported by A Place for Mom, which found that polypharmacy — routinely taking five or more medications — affects 40 to 50 percent of older adults and raises the risk of adverse drug interactions, falls, and cognitive decline.
Hands-On Tools and Free Supplies
Beyond the pharmacy consultations, the event offered a virtual dementia simulator that let participants experience some of the physical difficulties faced by loved ones living with dementia, along with free incontinence supplies and health and wellness screenings. Organizers also connected attendees with trained professionals for one-on-one caregiving guidance, and Duke Health's online caregiver resources — including videos and guides — remain available to anyone seeking support, regardless of whether they are a Duke Health patient.
The scale of the Durham event reflects a national pattern. AARP's Caregiving in the U.S. 2025 report found that an estimated 63 million American adults, nearly 24 percent of the adult population, now provide unpaid care to family members or loved ones — a 50 percent increase over 2015 levels. North Carolina's share of that burden is significant: state data reported by Duke Health indicates roughly 1.28 million North Carolina residents serve as informal caregivers, delivering an estimated $16.5 billion in unpaid care services annually.
State Policy Racing to Keep Up
That demographic wave is only expected to grow. In a January report to the governor, the North Carolina Governor's Advisory Council on Aging projected the state's population aged 65 and older will grow by more than 50 percent between 2026 and 2050, rising from 2 million to over 3 million residents, with the fastest growth among adults 85 and older. Former Governor Roy Cooper issued Executive Order 280 in 2023 to establish the state's multisector plan on aging, which launched in September 2024 as All Ages, All Stages NC, coordinating healthcare, housing, workforce development, and caregiver support statewide over a decade. Hoodline reported on the initiative's first year, when NCDHHS said expanded caregiver support programs had reached nearly 3,000 individuals across 98 counties.
Family caregivers seeking financial relief also have access to the state and federally funded NC Lifespan Respite Program, which provides eligible unpaid caregivers reimbursement vouchers up to $750 per year for temporary respite care, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Many of these caregivers belong to what AARP's national research, reported by North Carolina Health News, calls the sandwich generation — nearly 1 in 3 family caregivers are simultaneously raising minor children while also caring for adult relatives, a dynamic that helps explain why events offering practical relief draw such large working-age crowds.
NCDHHS Secretary Devdutta Sangvai, who previously served as president of Duke Regional Hospital, has commended Duke's Caregiver Community Event team during a presidential award nomination for providing what he described as a vital community lifeline, a connection Hoodline noted in its earlier coverage of NCDHHS policy briefings. As North Carolina's older population continues climbing toward 3 million by 2050, the sold-out crowd in Durham this week offered a preview of just how many families will be looking for exactly this kind of support in the years ahead.
