Coastal Care Partners offer hope for families

Homes are sanctuaries. They’re safe spaces, filled with a lifetime of memories. It’s these sentimental attachments that make us want to stay within those treasured walls. But as health challenges become more prevalent, that can prove more and more difficult.

It’s something that Scott and Amy Pierce understand well. The couple have each had experience with those facing ill health. For Scott, it was his parents.

“I was born and raised in Savannah and lived there my whole life. In 2008, I moved to Atlanta to take a software job with a healthcare company. In 2016, I was dating Amy at the time, she was an admissions nurse for hospice. I got a call from my dad on a random Tuesday, saying ‘I’m not feeling very good. I’m going to go to the hospital.’ The doctor told me that it was nothing imminent, but that it would be something we’d have to manage ... congestive heart failure,” he recalls.

“My mom was 84 years old and she had already been diagnosed with dementia and was in a wheelchair. So my 86-year-old dad was trying to care for both of them. They lived alone and didn’t have family living in Savannah.”

It was the first time that Scott saw his father in a vulnerable position. It was clear that he was no longer able to take care of himself, much less his wife.

“So I remember turning to Amy and asking, ‘who’s going to take care of this? His primary care doctor?’ And I remember Amy laughing,” he says.

As many discover every day, there is no set answer to this question. Solutions can range from family-assisted care to inpatient living facilities. But the dilemma got Scott and Amy thinking.

“We both have backgrounds in healthcare. I was in healthcare software, so I dealt with the business-side, I sat in the boardrooms of some of the biggest healthcare companies in the country,” he says.

Amy was an admissions nurse for Hospice Savannah, where she would go into the living rooms or the hospital, to access patients for hospice services.

“I would see families struggling to deal with complex health issues,” Amy says.

That’s what moved the pair to create Coastal Care Partners. The customer-focused care system was built to address this very issue. They started in Savannah, creating a multi-pronged organization that now offers in-home care for patients who need assistance, as well as case management that pairs nurses with patients to provide one-on-one care.

“We got licensed by the state to provide in-home care. We have a recruiting philosophy that we call the Donna rule, Donna is my mom. Anyone that we hire, we would feel comfortable with them caring for my mom,” Amy says.

The high-level of service offered by Coastal Care Partners paired with the overwhelming need resulted in continued growth and expansion. Over time, the company opened an emergency care facility, as well as concierge adult primary care in Savannah.

Recently, the Pierces opened a branch on St. Simons Island, where nurses offer case management and in-home care. Families are able to work directly with the company to determine what best fits their needs and are able to pay accordingly. Since they are not bound by insurance, they are able to offer a second-to-none customer experience.

“For instance, the nurse care management is where you hire a nurse. Basically, it’s five hours paid upfront and you use as much as you need. That’s beautiful because the nurses develop a personal relationship with the patient. They go with their clients to all of their doctors’ appointments, so you can imagine the value to both the doctors and the patients,” Scott says. “They can give the doctors the complete view of the client’s health.”

The in-home case management can also provide whatever options best suit the patient. That can include assisting with daily activities, meal prepping, running errands, or engaging in exercise to hospice support care, medication management, or specialized dementia and memory care.

Since the beginning, the Pierces have been inspired by their personal experiences. They continue to find fulfillment in helping other families when they need it most.

“It’s so rewarding. I’ve gone into homes to access a family and afterward they said, ‘I just feel so much relief just talking to you and finding out there is help: It gives them peace of mind,” Amy says.

“The reason we got into this was because of our personal experience. It’s super rewarding. We have people saying, ‘we don’t know what we’d do without you. Mom or dad is doing so great.’ It’s fantastic,” Scott says with a smile.