Aging Care Matters exists because growing older is complicated — and families are too often left trying to navigate it alone. What began as professional work in aging advocacy became deeply personal when Carla Payne experienced her own father’s decline and death in 2008 as a long-distance daughter trying to coordinate care, understand medical decisions, manage emotions, and advocate from afar. At the same time, through her work with older adults and families, she repeatedly witnessed caregivers struggling through crises with little guidance, poor communication between systems, and no clear roadmap for what came next. Those experiences became the foundation of Aging Care Matters: a company built to give families the experienced guidance, advocacy, coordination, and compassionate support they often desperately need during the aging journey. In the early 2000s, I was home full-time raising my children who had just started preschool. After years of being immersed in motherhood, I wanted to do something meaningful outside the home and began volunteering through Volunteers of America visiting local skilled nursing facilities. What I encountered changed me. I saw so many older adults sitting alone day after day, many with no visitors at all. Some had family far away, some had outlived everyone close to them, and some simply had no one advocating for them. I became a volunteer Ombudsman because I wanted to make sure people who felt forgotten still had a voice and someone looking out for them. During that same time, my own father’s mental and physical health began declining rapidly. Almost overnight, I found myself not just as an advocate for others, but as a daughter in crisis trying to navigate difficult decisions for someone I loved deeply. In one heartbreaking moment, I had to place my father into a care facility because it was no longer safe for him to remain at home. He died the following year in July 2007. The experience was overwhelming, emotional, confusing, and life-changing. Even now, I understand in a very personal way what families mean when they say, “I had no idea how hard this would be.” The very next month after my father died, I enrolled in the Gerontology program at West Chester University. It was there that I discovered the Aging Life Care Association and realized there was an entire profession dedicated to helping families navigate aging, caregiving, healthcare systems, dementia, crisis situations, and long-term planning. I knew immediately this was the work I was meant to do. In 2010 I formed Brandywine Elder Care Management with a fellow grad student I had met at West Chester University. After relocating back to North Carolina I founded Aging Care Matters in 2018 because I wanted families to have the kind of guidance, advocacy, and support I wish more people had during my father’s decline. Along the way, I’ve learned families do not need someone with all the perfect answers. They need someone compassionate, knowledgeable, responsive, and willing to walk beside them through uncertainty and help them feel less alone. Our mission is to help families navigate the challenges of aging with compassionate guidance, practical solutions, advocacy, and support. In practice, that means we walk beside families during some of the most overwhelming and emotional seasons of life. We help families make sense of medical situations, caregiving decisions, dementia changes, safety concerns, long-term care options, family conflict, and the many systems that often feel confusing and disconnected. We work to bring clarity to chaos, create realistic plans, improve communication between providers and family members, and help older adults maintain the highest possible quality of life, dignity, and independence. It also means there are things we will not compromise on. We will always strive to treat older adults with dignity and respect. We will be honest with families, even when conversations are difficult. We believe relationships matter more than transactions, and we do not believe aging care should feel cold, corporate, or rushed. Families can expect responsiveness, compassion, advocacy, and thoughtful guidance grounded in both professional experience and genuine human connection. Carla Payne began volunteering through Volunteers of America, visiting skilled nursing facilities in Pennsylvania, and later became a volunteer Ombudsman advocating for residents living in long-term care communities. Following the decline and death of her father, Carla enrolled in the Gerontology program at West Chester University and discovered the Aging Life Care Association, beginning her professional path in aging life care and care management. Aging Care Matters was officially founded in North Carolina as a solo care management practice serving Triangle families navigating aging, caregiving, dementia, healthcare crises, and long-term care planning. Carla Payne was recognized as the Southeast Chapter Member of the Year by the Aging Life Care Association for leadership and contributions to the profession across six southeastern states. Carla served as President of the Wake Forest Chapter of Women In Networking (WIN) and also served on the board of the Senior Information Networking Group (SING). During this time, she co-facilitated Dementia Friendly community training and education for SING members to help professionals better understand and support individuals living with dementia and their caregivers. Aging Care Matters completed the extensive upfit, licensing, and certification process required to open its first Adult Day Center in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The Wake Forest Adult Day Center officially opened, expanding Aging Care Matters beyond care management into direct daytime support and respite services for caregivers and older adults. The company opened its second Adult Day Center in Southpoint Durham, expanding support for families throughout Durham, Chapel Hill, RTP, and surrounding communities. Aging Care Matters expanded again through the acquisition of Golden Horizons Adult Day Center in Durham, growing to three Adult Day Centers across Wake Forest and Durham. Carla also began serving on the Board of the Snow Foundation, further supporting education and advocacy efforts related to dementia care and Positive Approach to Care principles. The organization continues growing its interdisciplinary team of care managers, Adult Day Care leaders, dementia-informed staff, and caregiving professionals committed to helping Triangle families navigate aging with compassion, dignity, and practical guidance. Growing older does not make someone less valuable, less deserving of dignity, or less worthy of joy, purpose, connection, and respect. We believe aging care should support the whole person, not just address tasks or diagnoses. When one person is struggling, the entire family is affected. We support not only the older adult, but also the spouses, adult children, siblings, and caregivers trying to navigate difficult decisions, changing roles, and emotional stress. The goal is not simply to keep someone “safe.” The goal is helping older adults maintain as much dignity, choice, purpose, and independence as possible while balancing realistic safety needs. Especially in dementia care, we believe behaviors often reflect unmet needs, fear, frustration, pain, overstimulation, loneliness, or confusion. We strive to respond with curiosity, compassion, and understanding rather than judgment or punishment. Families deserve honesty, even when the conversations are difficult. We will not minimize concerns, avoid hard truths, or recommend services that are not truly needed simply because it is easier or more profitable. The beliefs we would be willing to lose a client over are the ones involving dignity, safety, honesty, and humane treatment of older adults. We will never support shaming, neglecting, demeaning, manipulating, or treating an aging person as though they no longer matter simply because they are older, cognitively impaired, or dependent on others for care. As Aging Care Matters continues to grow, our focus remains on expanding access to compassionate, relationship-centered aging support for families who may otherwise go without needed services. We are currently exploring partnerships with trusted nonprofit organizations to help establish scholarship funding for Adult Day Care attendance and professional care management services for families facing financial hardship. We also recognize that many rural and underserved communities still have very limited options for aging support. As part of our long-term vision, we are exploring smaller community-based Adult Day Center models in more remote areas, including shorter-day programs designed to provide meaningful support, respite, and social engagement where resources are currently limited or unavailable. Call 919-525-6464 or schedule your consultation today.
Quick Overview
Carla’s Path To Aging Life Care
Our Mission
Our Journey
Early 2000s
2007
2018
2019
2020–2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2025
2025 & Beyond
What We Believe
Aging Is a Stage of Life – Not a Problem to Be Managed
Families Are the Unit of Care
Safety Matters — But So Does Independence
Behavior Is Communication
Honest Conversations Matter
A Note From Carla, Our Owner and Founder
