The Palmetto Palace: Hospitality In Action

Mobile Medical Unit providing free preventive care to uninsured, under served Lowcountry patients across South Carolina.

Jennifer Pinckney, widow of Clementa Pinckney, left, Dr. Youlanda Gibbs, founder of The Palmetto Palace, and Kylon Middleton, a close friend of Clementa Pinckney, unveil plans for the new Clementa Pinckney mobile health care unit to honor the late Rev. Pinckney Tuesday at MUSC. Paul Zoeller/Staff

Mission: he Palmetto Palace provides patient-centered care in the hospital and after the transition home by supporting the needs of families caring for a loved one in medical crisis and to enhance the quality of life for individuals facing a life-threatening illness or chronic disease regardless of preference or background. The Palmetto Palace now aims to bring much needed services closer to the communities that need it most with plans for a mobile care unit which will primarily serve families from South Carolina’s rural, poverty-stricken Senate District 45 at the southernmost tip of the state.

Background: According to the National Association of Hospital Hospitality Houses (NAHHH), the need for families and caregivers to have access to affordable accommodations has increased significantly during the past ten years. Of the more than 500 Hospitality Houses worldwide, almost all operate at or near 98 percent occupancy rate, and 40 percent of those Houses are working on expansion efforts to accommodate long waiting lists. Our Video (click to watch)

Research suggests that the need for families and caregivers to be close in proximity to their loved one is crucial in the quality of care as proximity or “to be near the patient” has consistently and universally been ranked by family members as one of the most important need when experiencing ICU hospitalization.

The Need: Critical illness occurs without warning, leaving families feeling vulnerable and helpless with no clear knowledge of what to expect from healthcare professionals or patient outcome, especially for rural medically under-served consumers and caregivers.

Education facilitates the families and caregivers’ understanding of the care the patient is receiving. In South Carolina, we have over 770,000 family caregivers who provide nearly 737 million hours of unpaid care each year.

Impact: During the spring of 2011 and 2012, Palmetto Palace served eighty-five (85) families from three states, including 12 counties in SC for a total of 149 hotel nights, 1,700 hospital meal vouchers, distributed 1,400 care bags and 600 box lunches to caregivers in ICU waiting rooms.

Coordination of Care across Settings through Promoting Patient Centered Care by Connecting People & Helping Families

According to the Transitional Care Leadership Summit, older adults experience more than 13 million transitions across the continuum of care a year, and these transitions can be risky and confusing when there is inadequate coordination among professionals and/or information provided to patients and families.