DR. KAREN ELLER and the Palmetto Pain Center
For the Community
story by JENNIFER BROWN-CARPENTER photos by SUSAN DELOACH
Pain is a part of the human experience. We will all experience it in some way, some day. The question we often ask is: Is there relief for this pain? And, more importantly, does anyone even care? Dr. Karen Eller and the staff at Palmetto Pain Center care a lot.
Dr. Eller grew up in a small town in North Carolina. She left home at 16 to attend the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics for high school, a state-supported boarding school for gifted students in science and math. She is the first physician in her family and leaving for boarding schools was not the norm. While there, Dr. Eller met Joe Floyd in her first English class, and it was love at first sight. “We married ten years later once my ‘schooling’ was done. I got to marry my high school sweetheart, and I have gratitude every day for our relationship.”
Dr. Eller attended Duke University on a full ride, with the Duke Power Leadership Scholarship and the Benjamin N. Duke Leadership Scholarship. She was a pre-med major and graduated on the Dean’s List for all of her four years there. Dr. Eller then attended the UNC School of Medicine, graduated with Honors, and decided to go into the field of anesthesiology. She again chose UNC for her training and finished her Anesthesiology Residency at UNC-Chapel Hill, acting as chief resident her last year.
Although she loved the practice of anesthesiology, Dr. Eller felt that she needed to have a longer-term relationship with her patients. “I was looking for more continuity with patients.” She decided to complete a fellowship in Interventional Pain through the Department of Anesthesiology at UNC.
Interventional pain management is a specialty within medicine that utilizes specific and targeted injections under fluoroscopic and/or US guidance to block pain to diagnose and treat specific pain generators. The goal is to improve pain, improve function, and restore quality of life for patients.
The specialty of Interventional Pain is a natural extension of the field of Anesthesiology, where injections into the spine and blocking of peripheral nerves are daily practice in the operating room.
Dr. Eller finished her Interventional Pain program and planned to stay at UNC. “I had a contract that I had just not signed yet.” Beaufort’s local anesthesia group was recruiting a physician to join them to help start the Beaufort Memorial Pain Center. “It was a bit of a novelty at the time because most physicians were working in private practices, not within a hospital. I thought it would be challenging and fun.” Dr. Eller and her husband had two children at this point, a one- and a three-year-old. Joe still had his business in Chapel Hill, and they were not sure if they would stay in Beaufort long-term, but they went for it for Dr. Eller’s career and moved into their home on Lady’s Island.
About three years into her practice as a partner with Lowcountry Anesthesia, Dr. Eller had a few life-changing events that happened simultaneously. She had a health scare that helped her put things in her life into perspective. She started practicing Ashtanga yoga, taking the philosophy of yoga to heart. “I realized that it was okay that I could not do it all. Either I needed to be the best anesthesiologist that I could be or I needed to be the best Interventional pain physician that I could be. And I chose interventional pain.”
Not surprisingly, Dr. Eller also had fallen in love with the Lowcountry. It was not just because of the views or what Beaufort had to offer to her and her family … Dr. Eller fell in love with the community and wanted to give them her best.
With all of that in mind, Dr. Eller decided that if she was going to open a private practice, she would do it the way she wanted it done and to “do it right.” She chartered Palmetto Pain Center in 2004. “They do not teach you how to start a practice in medical school, or residency, or anywhere,” Dr. Eller says. She attributes her ability to open this practice to the strength, support, and connection she found in the community of Beaufort. “I had support all around me, but I was scared … very, very nervous,” Dr. Eller laughs.
“I recruited my former nurse, who also had an MBA and a real estate license. I asked, ‘Do you want to start a pain clinic?’ and she said, “Yes!”
Palmetto Pain Center was chartered in August 2004, and they saw their first patients in September. Their medical office building was completed in January 2005. “Prior to that, I rented office space from different physicians in town and carried paper charts in my trunk!” Rachel, who now works as Palmetto Pain Center’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief RN, has also been with Dr. Eller since the beginning. “She is the heart and soul of this practice. She is my right and my left hand.”
“Until recently, Palmetto Pain Center had been my solo medical practice. My goal was to create a space of comfort for patients who are in pain. It is a scary process, and it can be a lonely time. I wanted to have a space where people knew they were being listened to, and they were comfortable that they were getting state-of-the-art care. I wanted them to know we had empathy and would protect them.”
Because of how dedicated Dr. Eller is to each individual patient, the level of care provided, and the many steps and diagnostics that are often necessary in this type of clinic, the wait list grew.
About four years ago, she realized she was again in a place where she needed to reevaluate her business model to best serve our community. “To be the best interventional pain physician for the people in this community, I knew I had to grow the business and bring in help. And yet again, it was scary.”
Tiffany Rahn came on board as a PA two years ago with a background in emergency care, urgent care, and orthopedics. “She is kind and empathetic, and she facilitates part of the clinic, allowing me to do more interventional directed treatment. She has also become very good at nonfluoro-guided injections herself!”
Dr. Eller knew she wanted to bring another physician on board but held her boundaries firm: She would only bring in someone she was confident would be a good fit for the practice. She wanted someone who would be a good partner for her, take care of the patients thoughtfully, and be committed to the community of Beaufort, just like she has been.
Holding firm to those boundaries was worth the two-and-a-half years it took to find and bring Dr. Daniel White to Palmetto Pain Center. “I knew he was going to be the right person when we first talked.” Besides being trained at Georgetown University and the University of Virginia, Dr. White was a naturally a very kind person, which goes a long way when caring for someone who is dealing with pain. “He is everything I wanted him to be. When he came on board, I told him I was not bringing him on so we could have two separate clinics in the same building. I wanted our patients to get two physicians and a PA for the price of one.”
And that is what has happened. Dr. Eller, Dr. White, and Tiffany spend all day talking, meeting in the hallway, reviewing images, and working together to ensure their patients always get the best possible care. Now that Dr. White is working at the clinic, they see more patients and meet more of their individual needs. “We are not having to turn cases away. Dr. White performs procedures in the BMH Surgery Center that I previously could not do as a solo physician. It was just too hard for me to get out of the clinic to add anything else into the day. With Dr. White on the team, we can now offer our patients all services here in Beaufort.” Dr. White is married to his wife, Eliana, and they have a three-year-old daughter, Amara. They live in Habersham now and are loving the Beaufort life.
In her personal life, Dr. Eller enjoys spending time with the love of her life, Joe, and with her two grown kids, Walker and Kirsten. Walker is a graduate of Emerson College and lives in Los Angeles now. Kirsten is a graduate of the University of Georgia and is living in Atlanta. Joe works in software and is very involved in the Beaufort community, sitting on many boards and serving on nonprofits. Dr. Eller has also served on many boards, including the USCB Performing Arts. She was medical director for Friends of Caroline Hospice for ten years. “We live in the same home we moved into when we first moved here. We have renovated it twice … and I just don’t want to move.”
Dr. Eller wants people to know what Palmetto Pain Center has to offer, which is a lot. They are, at the core, “double-boarded Interventional Pain Physicians providing cutting edge and advanced care for targeted pain relief.” It is hard to even capture everything they can do and are doing for the people of this community. You could list every procedure they do and all the areas they can target, but the heart of the practice is even more important than those things.
At the heart of the practice is a woman who loves her community and wants to help them — a woman who adores her staff. She is a doctor who knows she is only part of the team, the exceptional PPC Care Team, who gets the job done together from the front desk to the back office. It would be impossible to include everything she has to say about each of her team in an entire magazine issue. “I am blessed to have this career. I feel blessed to live in the Lowcountry. I am blessed to be able to help these patients who are experiencing pain. I just have such gratitude every day of my life.”
To learn more about Palmetto Pain Center and everything they have to offer, please visit www.palmettopaincenter.com.
