Different name, evolving hospital care: Sumter's Palmetto Health Tuomey becomes Prisma in merger
Through 105 years of growth and evolution, one thing hasn’t changed: Tuomey hospital’s commitment to the Sumter community to provide safe, skilled, specialized care in our hometown.
Palmetto Health Tuomey, which became part of the Palmetto Health system of hospitals in January 2016, is celebrating even greater growth in 2019: Palmetto Health and Greenville Health System have united to form Prisma Health, the largest not-for-profit health organization in South Carolina, serving more than 1.2 million patients annually. The new company employs more than 30,000 team members. Its objective is to improve the health of all South Carolinians through improved clinical quality, access to care and patient experience, while also addressing the rising cost of health care.
Tuomey is now known as Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital. The name change represents our membership in this exciting organization while reflecting a century of continuous service to Sumter.
The local campus includes more than 1,700 team members and 228 practicing physicians representing 37 medical specialties. Our local facilities include a Level II Nursery; an Intensive Care Unit; an Acute Rehabilitation Unit; 10 operating suites; centers for outpatient surgery, imaging and cancer treatment; an Infusion Center; an award-winning Wound Healing Center; as well as cardiac, speech, physical and occupational rehabilitative services. Our diagnostic capabilities feature comprehensive pathology services, interventional radiology and cardiac catheterization. Transitional care is provided through our Home Health Services program, as well as hospice and palliative care.
The formation of the Palmetto Health-USC Medical Group brought more specialties to the Sumter campus. A pulmonary practice brought Sumterite Charlie White, M.D., back home, and an infectious disease practice with Bhatraphol Tingpej, M.D., was established. Montgomery Pate, M.D., opened a Medical Group practice in Bishopville. There are two general medicine practices on campus: Palmetto Family Practice and Carolina Family Medicine. Palmetto Heart-Sumter provides electrophysiology and medical and interventional cardiology with care provided by four cardiologists and several advanced providers, and most recently, Sumter Plastic Surgery welcomed Dr. Emily Grace Clark.
TUOMEY CAMPUS OFFERINGS
The Wound Healing Center
Chronic wound care impacts 6.5 million people a year nationwide, costing $20 billion. Prisma Health Tuomey’s wound center specializes in the treatment of chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers and dehisced surgical wounds. The center offers outpatient care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy as well as disease management and diabetes care, vascular studies, tissue culturing and pathology, biological skin substitute applications and clinical or surgical debridement.
Cancer Treatment Center
Aggressive technology + clinical expertise + personalized care: The center ensures that local patients receive the best cancer care without having to travel to get it. For nearly 25 years, CTC has maintained cutting-edge technology and new services to fight cancer. It was one of the first facilities in the state to offer TrueBeam radiation treatment, using state-of-the-art linear accelerators, paired with CT-based treatment planning, which allows radiation oncologists to offer intensity-modulated radiotherapy. The center utilizes Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for early stage lung cancer to allow highly precise delivery of high doses of radiation to a small target.
The Women’s Center | Birthplace
The 18,000-square-foot Women and Infants Pavilion is a dedicated unit designed to meet the unique needs of our gynecological and obstetric patients. The facility features 24 modern inpatient rooms designed to create the optimum conditions for in-room treatment and examinations, while accommodating supportive family and friends comfortably. For postpartum patients, the center provides a worthy extension of our labor and delivery rooms. The Level II Nursery allows the hospital to treat high-risk newborns. The center also features breastfeeding rooms, a lactation consultant and education nurse, antepartum rooms and a bereavement room.
The Infusion Center
Efficient, convenient and patient-friendly: Having an infusion center on site means that patients are able to get home from the hospital more quickly and perhaps even avoid being admitted. We provide treatment for Crohn’s Disease and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as infusions of medications such as antibiotics, antivirals and iron drugs in an outpatient setting. Infusion therapy is also utilized for hydration.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine eliminates distance barriers and offers patients access to great care and quick intervention. Prisma Health Tuomey uses telemedicine technology to provide clinical care in the areas of mental health, advanced intensive care and stroke. If a patient presents with stroke-like symptoms, time is of the essence; neurologists from MUSC can guide intervention and save lives. We use credentialed psychiatrists and intensivists as well to improve medical access to services not consistently available.
Acute Rehabilitative Unit
Community Wellness
Prisma Health wants a healthy workforce and a healthy community, so it provides services to help people get and stay well. Corporate wellness initiatives, cholesterol and diabetes screenings and drug testing options are available. Some employers partner with Palmetto Health to bring nurses into their facilities, to provide on-site first aid, check blood pressures, work on health and safety initiatives and evaluate jobs for ergonomic issues.
Wesmark Boulevard Campus
Our satellite campus at Alice Drive and Wesmark offers outpatient imaging, programs in physical therapy, speech and occupational therapy, cardiac rehab, audiology and one of the most comprehensive sports medicine/orthopedics programs in the region. We provide pre-season screenings for athletes, injury clinics to assess injuries post-game and on-site sporting coverage. The Imaging Center provides noninvasive testing procedures such as MRI and CT scans, ultrasound, bone density studies and X-ray, as well as 4D ultrasounds for pregnant women.
For more information about Prisma Health Tuomey, visit PrismaHealth.org.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE OFFERED BY OTHER HOSPITALS IN THE PRISMA HEALTH SYSTEM
Prisma Health Heart Hospital
The Heart Hospital is South Carolina's only freestanding hospital dedicated solely to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hearts. Our continuum of care begins with disease prevention and management and extends to emergency services and procedures, diagnosis and surgery and rehabilitation. Services include cardiac catheterization and diagnostics, cardiovascular surgery, pulmonary rehabilitation, a Chest Pain ER and a mobile Coronary Care Unit.
Prisma Health Children’s Hospital
The state’s first children's hospital treats more than 80,000 children each year. It has a Children’s Emergency Center and offers more than 30 subspecialties to meet the unique health care needs of children. Supportive, family-centered care includes centers for Sleep, Cancer and Blood Disorders and Cystic Fibrosis, as well as a Critical Care Transport Team, physical and specialty therapy, Pediatric Intensive Care and Palliative Care and the Tom Bates Day Hospital.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
The NICU at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital is an extraordinary place for healing and growth for some of the tiniest and sickest babies in our region, and we are committed to it remaining that way. As only one of five Level III NICUs in South Carolina and the designated Regional Perinatal Center, the NICU provides expert care for the smallest and sickest babies in a 16-county region, which encompasses Sumter, Lee and Clarendon counties.
Prisma Health Richland Trauma Center
It’s the only Level I Trauma Center in the Midlands, caring for an average of 2,400 serious injuries each year. The interdisciplinary team is composed of trauma and specialty surgeons, emergency medicine and other specialty physicians, nurses, therapists, social workers and other health care professionals to provide total care for every aspect of injury, from prevention through rehabilitation.
Stroke Center
The only Joint Commission-designated Primary Stroke Center in the Midlands is led by an internationally recognized stroke neurologist and chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. The stroke team is often referred to as the "Brain Attack Team." We are ready to treat victims of stroke, brain aneurysms and other abnormal vascularities of the brain 24/7 as well as provide interventional treatment to retrieve clots causing a blockage of blood supply to brain tissue.
Acute Rehabilitation Unit
The Acute Rehabilitation Unit at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital is dedicated to helping patients maximize functionality, mobility and independence after an injury or illness. Patients who have had a recent hospital stay, are prone to falls, or have a decline in functional status work with a broad team of specialists to redevelop and improve skills and help restore the health and independence. Emphasis is placed on relearning or adapting skills associated with the care of self (feeding, grooming, bathing, dressing, toileting), mobility (moving from chair to bed, walking, using stairs), communication (understanding others, expressing oneself), social awareness (interacting with others, solving problems, memory) and community re-integration (readjustment to family and community life and leisure activities.)