Pamela Duncan

When Pamela Duncan recently took the job as administrator at Carolina Health and Rehabilitation in Columbia, she unknowingly was about to face the biggest crisis of her life.

Less than a week after she began her new job, lightening struck a transformer at the healthcare center and all 188 patients had to be evacuated that night. Duncan gives credit to her family, her staff, and Columbia firefighters and ambulance personnel and Richland County Transportation Service for making the move a smooth orderly affair. She claims little credit for the mammoth job of moving bedridden and elderly patients to Ridgeway Health and Rehab in Ridgeway, an affiliated facility owned by UHS- Pruitt Corporation. Instead she marvels at the cooperation among all the facilitators.

Duncan was raised by three women of unusual strength and courage. Her grandmother, June, her mother, Cheryl, and her aunt, Lois, instilled in her the character traits she needs to make an outstanding administrator. Her 84–year–old grandmother made 150 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the patients during the crisis and Duncan’s husband Eric, took a week off from work to help.

Duncan insists on excellence from her staff. Her passion for excellence sets a high standard that benefits all her patients. She wants her staff to be alert to the patients’ needs.

Before coming to Columbia, Duncan worked in Rock Hill where she won the American Health Care Association’s Quality Award. She employs a positive approach believing in public praise and private criticism. Her supervisors are taught to look for what motivates the people under them. She emphasizes caring and compassion and seeks dedicated people for her staff.

Pamela Duncan was born in Columbia and moved to Fort Mill, SC when in the sixth grade. She graduated from Winthrop College and worked several years in Rock Hill. Of her patients she says, “They have a quiet wisdom to share even if you don’t know them. Just take time to listen.”