West Columbia, SC (Paul Kirby) – Although Sunset Primary Care has been opened in its new location for about a month, CNP Scottie Shelley was joined by the Cayce-West Columbia Chamber, other business leaders and owners, and dignitaries from government entities to formally cut the ribbon on his new, larger clinic Wednesday. The clinic has moved from its original location on Sunset Blvd. near 12 St. to Augusta Rd. in the strip center that’s in front of the Wal-Mart Super Center.
Shelley, a former US Navy corpsman, is passionate about providing affordable medical care for all Americans. His voice cracked, and he had to pause for a moment, as he told a moving story Wednesday of why this mission is so important to him. He recounted an elderly, uninsured woman who had come to see him about her diabetes. When Shelley asked her what she had been doing to control her sky-high sugar levels, she told him she had no regular doctor. Every so often, she would have to trek to the local hospital’s Emergency Department, suffer an extremely long wait, and finally see a doctor who stated the obvious, she had diabetes. She needed insulin to stabilize her sugar levels, and she needed a steady doctor to follow up with regarding that. They’d give her a small supply of insulin and send her on her way.
When she finally landed in front of Shelley after going through this multiple times, he asked her how she was managing the disease. She told him she was rationing the precious insulin and only using it when she felt so bad, she thought she needed to take some. Shelley knew this was not managing this deadly disease at all. The woman needed regular management of her condition at a price she could afford with no insurance. Thus, the idea behind Sunset Primary Care.
Shelley provides quality care at a fraction of the cost of a physician’s practice, urgent care, or hospital. He does this by taking payment at the time of service and not accepting insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. By eliminating the "middleman" he saves the expense of hiring billing clerks or a billing service.
By reducing operating cost and the clinic’s overhead, the substantial savings are passed to his patients. An office visit for a sore throat, stomach bug, a rash, or diabetes management can be as low as $60.00. Shelley will see you, develop a diagnosis, write your prescription, and have you on your way back to good health quickly; all at a fraction of the cost of mainstream medical facilities.
Richard Skipper, the executive director of the Cayce-West Columbia Chamber, says he’s been going to Shelley for his medical care. It’s fast, convenient, and certainly affordable for a busy working professional like himself. Now that Shelley is in the new facility and has teamed up with a chiropractor that uses a similar business model in the Sunset Primary Care clinic, he’s thinking of switching those visits from another practitioner too.
As the ribbon was cut Wednesday and the large crowd of guests walked inside for the first time, they marveled at the clinic, indistinguishable from any general practitioner’s office. The only difference was that much of this new clinic had been put together by Shelley himself. “It’s definitely a labor of love,” he commented Wednesday as he mingled with the crowd that had gathered. “We’ve been doing this several years now, and the people of the area are beginning to realize they can skip the urgent care or hospital, be treated regularly for their illnesses, and not having insurance is not a problem.”
Sunset Primary Care’s new clinic is located at 2373 Augusta Road, West Columbia. As you enter Wal-Mart’s parking lot, it’s on your left. Their hours are Monday and Tuesday 12:30-6:30 p.m. and Wednesday thru Friday 9:00-6:30 p.m. They are closed on Saturday and Sunday. You can learn more about Sunset Primary Care and even see their entire price structure by going to their website at www.sunsetprimarycare.com. You can also call them at (803) 794-8776.
