You won’t know until you go!

HAMPTON HALL – BLUFFTON, SC

Imagine for a minute you're visiting the private club community of Hampton Hall in Bluffton, SC. You've gotten over the awe of the dramatic and picturesque Lowcountry landscape, and you're starting to take in your surroundings. For while everything here is beautiful to look at and expertly maintained and cared for, the key component is fun and enjoyment.

LAKE ARROWHEAD – WALESKA, GA

Lake Arrowhead is a beautiful masterplanned community just 40 minutes from Atlanta, convenient to nearby Canton, and minutes from the new, state-of-the-art Northside Cherokee Hospital and the premiere Cultural Arts Center at renowned Reinhardt University. The vast list of amenities includes miles of walking/ hiking trails, pickleball, championship golf, and breathtaking lake and mountain views.

SHELL POINT – FORT MYERS, FL

Shell Point® is an award-winning lifecare retirement resort located along the Caloosahatchee River just minutes from Sanibel Island and the Gulf of Mexico. Shell Point offers an unparalleled lifestyle in an unparalleled waterfront setting. For those who enjoy exploring Florida's waterways, there's boating, fishing, sailing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and canoeing. For sport and fitness fans, there is Shell Point's championship golf course, four Har-Tru tennis courts, five pickleball courts, a bocce court, fitness centers with trained professionals, and four heated swimming pools.

SALTERS HAVEN – HAMPSTEAD, NC

Nestled along the sparkling Intracoastal Waterway, in the growing coastal town of Hampstead, NC, Salters Haven will be the place for those who seek an active lifestyle on the water. Enjoy a celebration of family, community, and recreation on the water and elegant coastal homes here at Salters Haven.

BY JG WALKER

Over the years, our ideal-LIVING magazine readers and EXPO event guests have told us that “access to quality healthcare” is among your top priorities in choosing a new community. Now more than ever, that seems to be a good idea.

In the following pages, we’ve highlighted some of the best destination areas that feature outstanding medical facilities and specialty services. This isn’t intended to be a complete listing or a quality comparison between one region and another. In fact, in every city and town in these states, there are dedicated doctors, nurses, and support-staff professionals that offer expert care and compassionate therapies.

The rankings and ratings referenced here are the most recent from the authoritative U.S. News & World Report annual survey. But the final authority on any such personal matter is you. Doing your homework on the local healthcare services available should be an important part of your research when considering a new community. There’s a lot of information online to get you started, but you should make a point of asking community ambassadors and sales representatives about nearby medical facilities. Hospital and healthcare networks are expanding every year, often locating outpatient clinics and affiliated adult specialty practices in commercial centers near new and growing retirement communities. Find out what they have to offer you as part of your safe and healthy lifestyle.

North Carolina’s Research Triangle

The Research Triangle in central North Carolina is home to more physicians per capita than any other metropolitan area in the United States. That’s because, in addition to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, the region includes two of America’s top medical schools and research hospitals at Duke University in Durham and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Duke University Hospital is nationally ranked in 10 adult specialties and is in the heart of a campus that includes medical and nursing schools, a renowned children’s hospital, and a pioneering clinical research institute. Duke Health System also operates two other major regional hospitals and a network of primary care facilities that see over two million patients per year. Duke specialty programs have consistently been on the leading edge of wellness innovations, with institutes devoted to diet and fitness, integrative medical therapies, and home/hospice care.

From its 800-bed hospital and medical school based in Chapel Hill, the UNC Healthcare System extends throughout the state and features primary care locations in Chatham, Wake, Orange, and Lee counties. The UNC network also includes collaborative partnerships with Chatham Hospital and Rex Healthcare. In addition, the WakeMed Health network has two local hospitals and a series of satellite centers. Military veterans and their families are served at the Durham VA Medical Center and 10 outpatient clinics are conveniently located throughout central and eastern North Carolina.

Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry

The Holy City of Charleston is blessed with an abundance of healthcare providers, including more than 2,000 area physicians and a regional support-staff workforce that exceeds 30,000. The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is the South’s oldest continuously operating medical school, home to major colleges of dentistry and nursing, and the hub of a growing local biotech industry that includes cutting-edge telehealth initiatives. The MUSC Medical Center includes three downtown hospitals, the Hollings Cancer Center and affiliated acute-care centers throughout the Lowcountry, Pee Dee, and Midlands regions of the state.

The Charleston region also offers the Roper St. Francis network, which now includes four area hospitals with the 2019 opening of a new full-service location in the Summerville area at Carnes Crossroads. The Trident Medical Center in North Charleston and East Cooper Medical Center in Mt. Pleasant are among the region’s top-rated hospitals and host to numerous specialty practices in adjacent medical parks. Local military members, active and retired, are served by the Johnson V.A. Medical Center, the Naval Health Clinic Charleston, and the U.S. Naval Hospital in Beaufort.

Lowcountry residents also have convenient access to the full range of services at Beaufort Memorial Hospital and Hilton Head Hospital plus several new medicalpractice centers that have been established near growing retirement communities in the Bluffton area. The same is true just across the river in the Savannah area, where senior-care practices are increasing in number along with new resident retirees. St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Memorial Health University Medical Center are among coastal Georgia’s leading healthcare facilities.

Jacksonville, Florida

The Mayo Clinic Jacksonville is the Southern extension of the world-famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, home to the top-rated hospital in the United States. Not surprisingly, given that provenance, the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville is the No. 1 rated hospital in all of Florida. The local Mayo facilities are nationally ranked or rated as high-performing in nearly 20 adult specialties, are certified for complicated surgeries like organ transplants, and operate a primary care network in northeastern Florida. The Mayo Clinic Jacksonville