Palliative care is a medical specialty that helps people living with serious illness. At MUSC we focus on providing relief of symptoms and improving quality of life for both the patient and their family. We are ready to support you at any stage in a serious illness and at any age.
Our palliative care team is made up of specially-trained doctors, advanced practice nurses, social workers, chaplains and volunteers who work together with primary medical teams treating serious illnesses. Our palliative care can be used along with curative treatments and also at end of life.
Whether you are in the hospital or at home, we will work with your primary medical care team to support you and your family throughout your journey with a serious illness. Are you a physician considering a career in palliative medicine? Explore our unique fellowship program.
Our inpatient palliative care team can be consulted for an admitted patient anytime and by anyone—hospital staff, family or patient. Help includes symptom management, discussions around goals of care and treatment options, as well as patient/family support.
We provide various options for those needing palliative care outside of the hospital—including symptom management, care coordination with your other medical providers, ongoing discussions related to treatment choices, and quality of life goals.
Our team at MUSC Children’s Health is focused on supporting your whole child and your entire family. Palliative care team is available to any child with a medical condition that is chronic, life-threatening or life-limiting that would benefit from our help.
Explore our locations throughout the state of South Carolina.
To request more information about our palliative care program, please call 843-792-6062.
Whether you’ll benefit from pain management techniques or new ideas to solve problems related to your care, our team is dedicated to helping make your life better. Palliative care focuses on relieving pain and symptoms such as nausea, shortness of breath, constipation, loss of appetite, depression, difficulty sleeping, anxiety and fatigue. Patients and families also receive support and guidance to help manage stress and coordinate available resources.
Our palliative care team will spend time helping you and your family understand your treatment options and how they match up with your quality-of-life goals. Our providers help communicate your goals to your other medical providers ensuring your wishes are understood and giving you more control over your care.
Palliative care providers work together with you, your family and your other doctors to help as you manage life a serious illness. In addition to expert symptom management, our palliative care team is there to support you every step of the way.
Some of our support services are made possible due to the generosity of volunteers. If you are interested in helping, we welcome you to contact volunteer services at MUSC Health or reach out to our program specialist, Tammy Flovin for more information.
Legacy work is a practice that helps patients and their families feel connected to one another, even when they are physically apart. This practice also brings comfort to those dealing with chronic illness, long hospitalizations, or end-of-life. Legacy work brings comfort and connection to both patients and their families, especially children impacted by the patient’s illness.
At MUSC, volunteers assist with crafting project that help promote coping and connection during long hospitalization or at end of life. This role ranges from doing legacy work at the bedside to assisting with preparing art materials or helping with program donations.
At MUSC, Legacy work is done by offering “stones”, glass gems with comforting or commemorative images upon which the patient’s fingerprint can also be placed. Called memory stones, love stones, prayer stones, thought stones, these memory stones can be made by or for patients. Sometimes families will exchange their fingerprints with each other. In this way patients and families have something to hold onto when apart. Family members sometimes use these fingerprinted stones to send their love, prayers or positive thoughts.
Other forms of legacy work may include, handprints on various materials such as canvases, photos of families holding hands, letter writing or cards, journaling, special gatherings (when possible) to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, baptisms and other important life events. Legacy work has unlimited possibilities to provide comfort, kinship, and make lasting memories.
Our Legacy Program is supported entirely through grants and donations. If you’d like to give to this program, please visit MUSC Giving and use the “fund of my choosing” option to make a donation to the “Palliative Care Legacy Program”. For questions about our program, contact Jessica Bullington.
Ellie Coyne (October 20, 1958 – June 22, 2016) joined the Palliative Care team in the fall of 2015 and from her first day, she spread her light across our campus. Using nearly 10 years of experience pioneering a palliative care volunteer program at Virginia Commonwealth University, she came to MUSC Health and hit the ground running. She brought expertise in developing and sustaining a specialty volunteer program, providing bereavement support in pediatric and adult populations, community outreach and legislative initiatives for palliative care. A powerhouse of knowledge and innovation, Ellie was also a deeply kind and generous soul. The impact she made on MUSC Health staff, patients, and families was profound and lasting.
In the short time that Ellie was a member of the MUSC Health family, she embodied the mission of the Palliative Care Department – to provide comfort, support, and improve quality of life. A visit from Ellie was a bright spot in a patient’s or family’s day. She put together several events for patients and their families, ensuring that staff had what they needed to participate along with their patients – a wedding, anniversaries, patient birthdays, even the birthday of a patient’s child. Anyone who met Ellie remembered her smile, easy manner, and warm heart.
While Legacy Work is not something new, Ellie gave it life at MUSC Health. She provided memory stones (her creation) and other supplies to help patients and their families feel connected in times of distress and loss. Boxes filled with Legacy Work supplies, created in Ellie’s honor are present on all inpatient units so that the practice of Legacy Work continues to help our patients and families. These kits are called “Ellie’s Way”.
