Co-Working Space Near Columbia, SC

Four hospitals in Columbia and Lexington received the highest mark possible in the safety grades released by a medical watchdog group Monday. Overall, most Midlands medical facilities received solid ratings since the last scores were released in the spring.

Lexington Medical Center earned another A grade in the report from the Leapfrog Group, which issues biannual safety rankings. This was the third consecutive “A” for Lexington Medical Center, and as was the case in the spring, it was joined by more hospitals in Columbia, which can be considered among the safest in South Carolina.

Since 2012, the Leapfrog Group has published Hospital Safety Scores twice a year — once in the spring and once during the fall — to create transparency in the U.S. health system. The rating is focused on “errors, accidents, injuries and infections.”

Based on this criteria, other Columbia hospitals received three A grades, one B and one C for the fall. Those include:

▪ Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge repeated its score from the spring ranking of A

▪ Prisma Health Baptist repeated its score from the spring ranking of A

▪ MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Northeast repeated its score from the spring ranking of A. The facility was formerly Providence Health Northeast.

▪ MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown’s grade dropped one letter from A in the spring ranking to B. The hospital was formerly Providence Health.

▪ Prisma Health Richland repeated its score from the spring ranking of C

One other hospital in the Midlands received an A, while another dropped from the top mark.

▪ MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center’s grade rose one letter from B in the spring ranking to A

▪ Prisma Health Tuomey’s (in Sumter) grade dropped one letter from A in the spring ranking to B

▪ McCleod Health Clarendon in Manning’s grade rose one letter from C in the spring ranking to B

▪ Newberry County Memorial Hospital repeated its score from the spring ranking of C

▪ MUSC Health Orangeburg repeated its score from the spring ranking of C. The hospital was formerly Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties.

Overall in South Carolina, of the 51 hospitals that were ranked, 22 received a letter A. That’s an improvement from 21 in the spring rankings.

No hospitals in the Palmetto State received either a D or F in the fall grades. That’s the second grading period in a row where no D’s or F’s have been issued in South Carolina.

The improvement of hospital grades was reflected in South Carolina’s standing among other states. Nationally, South Carolina ranked 5th among all states, with more than 43% of its hospitals scoring an A rating. That was an increase from the spring (41%), when the Palmetto State was ranked 7th in the nation.

Utah (51.9%) saw a significant rise to become the top-rated state in the U.S. There was a five-way tie for lowest grade among North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington, D.C., as none had a hospital with an A grade.

“Upwards of 200,000 people die every year from preventable errors in hospitals,” the Leapfrog Group said. “It’s up to everyone to make sure that patient safety is the number one priority at every hospital across the United States.”

Leapfrog graded about 3,000 hospitals nationwide this spring, and 30% earned an A, 24% earned a B, 39% a C, 7% a D and less than 1% scored an F, according to its website.

The grades are based on safety data and rate how hospitals have “checks in place to prevent mistakes, and ensure strong lines of communication between hospital staff, patients, and families,” according to Leapfrog.

The new grades are the first to reflect hospital performance post-pandemic.

“Now that we have pre- and post-pandemic data for patient safety measures, we are encouraged by the improvement in infections and applaud hospitals for reversing the disturbing infection spike we saw during the pandemic,” said Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder said. “However, there’s still more work to be done. It’s deeply concerning that patient reports about their health care experience continues to decline.”

Leapfrog said more than 500 people will die today because of a preventable hospital error, and every year 1-of-31 patients will develop a preventable infection while in the hospital.

“Leapfrog advises the public never to reject emergency treatment based on a safety score, but to consult with a doctor about the best hospital for planned, elective procedures,” the News & Observer of Raleigh previously reported.

But Leapfrog’s study shows that patients at ‘D’ and ‘F’ hospitals face a greater risk of dying than those at hospitals graded A.

The Leapfrog Group said more than 30 measures are used to generate hospital safety grades, and it reports on five patient experience measures that have a direct impact on patient safety outcomes: nurse communication, doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicine and discharge information.

The Leapfrog safety grade is divided into two domains: Process/Structural Measures and Outcome Measures.

▪ Process Measures represent how often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure. For example, “Responsiveness of hospital staff” looks at patients’ feedback on how long it takes for a staff member to respond when they request help. Structural Measures represent the environment in which patients receive care. For example, “Doctors order medications through a computer” represents whether a hospital uses a special computerized system to prevent errors when prescribing medications.

▪ Outcome Measures represent what happens to a patient while receiving care. For example, “Dangerous object left in patient’s body” measures how many times a patient undergoing surgery had a dangerous foreign object, like a sponge or tool, left in his or her body.

The Process Measures include:

▪ Computerized Physician Order Entry

▪ Bar Code Medication Administration

▪ ICU Physician Staffing

▪ Leadership Structures and Systems

▪ Culture Measurement, Feedback & Intervention

▪ Nursing Workforce

▪ Hand Hygiene

▪ Nurse Communication

▪ Doctor Communication

▪ Staff Responsiveness

▪ Communication about Medicines

▪ Discharge Information

The Outcome Measures include:

▪ Foreign Object Retained

▪ Air Embolism

▪ Falls and Trauma

▪ CLABSI

▪ CAUTI

▪ SSI: Colon

▪ MRSA

▪ C. Diff.

▪ Pressure Ulcer Rate

▪ Death Rate among Surgical Inpatients with Serious Treatable Conditions

▪ In-hospital fall with hip fracture rate

▪ Perioperative hemorrhage and hematoma rate

▪ Postoperative acute kidney injury rate

▪ Postoperative Respiratory Failure Rate

▪ Perioperative PE/DVT Rate

▪ Postoperative sepsis rate

▪ Postoperative Wound Dehiscence Rate

▪ Unrecognized Abdominopelvic Accidental Puncture/Laceration Rate

SOURCE: Leapfrog Medical Group

In a breaking news situation, facts can be unclear and the situation may still be developing. The State is trying to get important information to the public as quickly and accurately as possible. This story will be updated as more information becomes available, and some information in this story may change as the facts become clearer. Refresh this page later for more updated information.

This story was originally published November 6, 2023, 10:46 AM.

Formerly called the Carolina Girls, the team recently rebranded to the Carolina Dance Team to be more inclusive.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — If you’ve been at the home football games cheering on the University of South Carolina (USC) Gamecocks, you might have noticed something different during halftime this season.

For the first time in the team’s history, the dance team has a male dancer.

USC students say the team's new addition is something they're excited about.

“I honestly love him,” sophomore Gabby Shupard said about Jordyn Gary. “I think he, like, brings up the energy of the team, and he’s such a good dancer.”

“I mean, I'm not really involved with the whole dance world or anything, but I guess it's good that they got, like, a dude is now on the dance team is, like, pretty exciting, I’m assuming,” freshman Joshua Small adds.

“It's just like your eyes just go right towards him in the routines,” sophomore cheerleader Aden Vinnacombe said. “He can do these incredible tricks and flips.”

Jordyn Gary is a sophomore nursing student at USC and a member of the Carolina Dance Team.

“It was just, like, really cool being down on the field and dancing in front of everybody,” Gary said, smiling as he explained his favorite part of being on the team so far.

Gary said he’s been dancing for nine years, getting trained in all styles but finding a particular passion for jazz and contemporary dance.

“My older brother was actually a dancer, so I followed in his footsteps, and then he realized that I was better than him,” Gary said, laughing. “So he quit, but I kept going.”

A Lexington native, Gary participated in USC dance clinics and got to know head coach Lindsay Sprague.

“I just reached out and asked her if I can try out, and she said, 'Yes.' And now I’m here,” Gary said with a shrug.

In the program’s 17-year history, Gary is the first male dancer to join the team, Sprague says.

“If people are familiar with our program, they might have realized that we had a little bit of a rebrand this year. When our team was started in 2007, the original team name was the Carolina Girls. Obviously, not the most inclusive name when you're thinking of male dancers who might want to join the program,” Sprague said. “But at that point, no one had ever - a male dancer had never seriously pursued a spot on the team until Jordyn came along a couple years ago. And so we knew that a little rebrand would have to happen for him just to make it more inclusive and make him comfortable. But it's been a pretty smooth - smooth transition - and we’ve had a ton of support from administration along that process.”

Gary is paving the way, working with Sprague along the way to adapt the routines and uniforms in a way that lends to a co-ed team.

“He's done a really, really good job adapting and making it his own and kind of creating the space for, hopefully, future male dancers down the road,” Sprague said. “We’ve actually already had other male dancers come to our camps and clinics this season. And that is 100% because of the door that Jordyn has opened for them. He's incredibly talented, but he is also just kind of a trailblazer in this setting because, while this has happened for other teams - you're seeing a lot more male dancers in collegiate and even professional dance teams all across the country - we haven't had that here yet. So, he's just setting a new trend.”

“It just feels really good to know that I'm inspiring other dancers. And there's been a lot of male dancers that are reaching out to try out for the team, especially to our recruit committee. So, that's very exciting,” Gary said. “I think it's just important to have diversity everywhere you go, just to see a person that's, like, you in any type of situation. I think that really gives inspiration to other male dancers out there who even may be young or may be questioning themselves about trying to try out or maybe continuing their career in dance. And I just think that it's great to be a trailblazer in this community.”

When it comes to the team’s dynamic, Sprague said that the girls on the team are filling the same role they have in the past. She said Gary acts as a “hybrid” between a cheerleader and a dancer as he holds a megaphone during the sidelines and leads cheers. During the halftime performances, he joins the rest of the team to perform a choreographed dance routine.

“He's that much more of an asset to our team. Just adds another layer of things that we can do competitively,” Sprague said. “We're hopeful that it's going to add a little bit of an edge for us at competition as well.”

COLUMBIA — Topgolf has expressed initial interest in building a location in the Columbia area.

The mega driving range entertainment company has entered the development process in Lexington County for property at 309 Paris Road, along Interstate 26 northwest of downtown Columbia, according to Planning Commission reports.

In an email, Topgolf said it did not have any information to share about a possible venue in the area at this time. Property owners of the 13-acre parcel near the Piney Grove Road interchange, Greenville-based Realty Link, also did not respond to messages left by The Post and Courier.

This is not the first time Topgolf has entered development talks with Lexington County, according to county planning officials. The company had been exploring possible development of the property prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but those efforts never progressed.

There is no guarantee that a deal for a new venue will come to fruition. But if Topgolf were to go forward with development, Columbia would mark the company’s fourth location in South Carolina, joining multi-story driving range towers built in Myrtle Beach, Greenville and North Charleston.

CAYCE — When she first laid eyes on the property that would eventually become her restaurant, the space still had remnants of the previous business.

But Sullange Solomon, a native of the Caribbean island Trinidad and Tobago, had a vision to turn the storefront into the Columbia-area’s first restaurant focused on cuisine from her country.

Solomon saw that vision become a reality when she opened Trini Lime Caribbean Cafe at 2008 State St. in mid-October. The restaurant across from Piecewise Coffee in Cayce has an open-concept dining room with colorful, flowery mural adorning the walls and the flag of Trinidad and Tobago hanging across exposed brick.

“I didn’t want it to be a typical Caribbean restaurant,” Solomon said. “I wanted it to be where people could come in and feel the atmosphere and the vibes and also feel like you’re in the islands.”

The eatery offers a variety of foods that are staples in Caribbean culture. Solomon expertly crafts an Aloo Pie — a large fried pastry that encompasses a filling of seasoned mashed potatoes served with a bright red side of sauce that has a slight kick and is sweet from cinnamon. Or there’s the Jerk Chicken entree paired with rice and cabbage mix.

The cuisine is categorized by spices like Shado Beni — the herb culantro — and thyme. The ingredients and cooking style lends itself to more availability of vegan and vegetarian options, Solomon said.

“Our food comes from Trinidad and Tobago which is a wide variety of culture. We’re a very diverse country. We have Creole influence, Chinese influence, Indian influence, Spanish influence. We have a lot of influences not only in our food, but in our culture,” Solomon said.

She’s been cooking and offering catering in the Columbia-area since 2011. Her Caribbean cafe could be found at places like the annual Columbia International Festival and Soda City Market.

The latter, a weekly market that got started nearly two decades ago, has become somewhat of a small business incubator in Columbia — Rambo’s Fat Cat Biscuits and Arepa South by Paella’South expanded beyond mobile operations to open brick-and-mortar spots after finding success at the downtown market.

COLUMBIA — A new restaurant, which has a menu that focuses on wild game, is set to open in Columbia’s Vista at the beginning of 2024, the eatery’s owner confirmed to Free Times.

The Hollow, located in the former Jason’s Deli space at 823 Gervais St., is a project nearly a decade in the making for Chris Fitz.

“This has been like a baby of mine for 10 years, where I always wanted to open this concept and post-COVID, we were given the ability to start this project,” Fitz said.

The State Street Pub bartender has spent the last nine years serving faithful patrons of the bar just across the river in West Columbia. He’s bringing the restaurant’s concept to the Vista, as new locally owned restaurants and bars open in the area where in recent years a number of larger national chains have closed.

The Hollow’s menu will center around wild game. Meat from animals such as elk, rabbit and venison will line the menu, alongside fresh wild vegetables like carrots, mushrooms and onions. It’s what Fitz calls a “forest to table” concept.

“Everybody’s heard about farm to table (concepts) and things like that. What we’re looking to do is to incorporate that same mentality of using localized ingredients and things like that to expand beyond just meat,” Fitz said.

The meat itself will come from a variety of places across the country, Fitz said.

“This wild game is not coming from your neighbor who just got back from the woods,” Fitz said. “What we’ve learned is that although it’s a very strict process ... there are tons of avenues for us to get this exotic meat.”

The 5,900-square foot space will have enough seating for around 120 people in the main dining room and feature two bars — a large corner bar right next to the kitchen and a straight bar right at the door facing a giant window that overlooks Gervais street — that can sit around 15 people.

Aside from the unique cuisine option, which is one of the first of its kind planned for the capital city, Fitz plans to outfit the former Jason’s Deli space with distinctive decor. Behind the corner bar, a massive artificial tree will be built out with an overhead canopy enveloping most of the bar seating area.

The kitchen, which Fitz said will be led by a local executive chef whose name will be announced at a later date, will be behind a glass wall. The design allows for customers to see what’s happening in the kitchen as staff prepares food.

The Hollow joins a handful of locally owned businesses that’ve opened in recent months. Over the summer, The Dragon Room opened just a stone’s throw from the upcoming game restaurant. It came from prominent restaurateur Kristian Niemi, who owns Columbia’s Bourbon and West Columbia’s Black Rooster and its kitchen and bar are led by industry vets Alex Strickland and David Adedokun, respectively.

At the beginning of September, a new fresh market from a University of South Carolina professor and local farmer, Farmers Market Xchange opened on Lady Street. And in the former space of Uncle Louie’s, POPS opened on Park Street.

“A lot of what we’re trying to do is bring the small business vibe back to Columbia,” Fitz said.

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Columbia, South Carolina’s capital city whose name is abbreviated to "Cola," is perhaps unsurprisingly nicknamed "Soda City" and is famously hot. Pondering these two unrelated facts brings up two questions for those of us who'd rather stay safely indoors at home to beat the heat, watching Netflix with a fizzy beverage in hand: Do the internet speeds in Columbia pop? And who is the best internet service provider in the city?

Good news for residents of the former home of the world's largest fire hydrant: median download speeds in Columbia exceed 200Mbps, according to Ookla data. To answer the second question, fiber internet from AT&T is available in Soda City and that makes AT&T Fiber our choice for the best internet service provider in Columbia.

CNET examines customer service, speed, pricing and overall value before recommending the best broadband in your area. While we recommend AT&T’s fiber internet, its expected speeds are on par with Spectrum’s, its largest competitor within Columbia, according to Ookla. Other than these two national brands, some Soda City citizens can connect to the internet with Verizon and T-Mobile’s 5G home internet, EarthLink (likely using AT&T’s network), smaller providers ispMint and EIN, as well as satellite internet through HughesNet or Viasat. Find out more about each of these options below.

Best internet providers in Soda City

The choice of ISP in Columbia mainly boils down to two main options: AT&T or Spectrum. However, the city is also serviced by T-Mobile, Verizon, EarthLink, two smaller carriers and satellite internet providers. All prices listed on this page reflect available discounts for setting up paperless billing. If you decide not to go with automatic monthly payments, your price will be higher.

Note: The prices, speeds and features detailed in the article text may differ from those listed in the product detail cards, which represent providers' national offerings. Your particular internet service options -- including prices and speeds -- depend on your address and may differ from those detailed here.

Best internet provider in Columbia, SC

Read full review

With its wide availability in the city and a variety of speed and pricing options, AT&T is a compelling internet option for most residents of Columbia.

Or call to learn more: (866) 431-6052

Check with AT&T

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Best cable internet provider in Columbia, SC

Read full review

Spectrum is a reliable cable internet provider with nearly total city coverage and easy-to-understand prices and terms.

Or call to learn more: (877) 361-3842

Check with Spectrum

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Best 5G home internet in Columbia, SC

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The company’s 5G home internet is available in Columbia due to ongoing upgrades Verizon has performed in the city, including the deployment of 5G on the C-band spectrum. According to a Verizon rep, South Carolina now ranks in the US's top 10 highest-performing metro markets.

Check with Verizon

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Source: CNET analysis of provider data

All available Columbia, South Carolina, residential internet providers

Most of the city will have access to AT&T’s fiber internet (or EarthLink's piggybacked option) or cable internet through Spectrum. In contrast, some neighborhoods have access to T-Mobile or Verizon's 5G options, as well as regional carriers ispMint and EIN. Here are the other options in the city not listed above.

Pricing details on Columbia, South Carolina, home internet service

Expect to spend around $50 per month to connect to the internet in Columbia. If you want more speed, there are many options to choose from. That's good news for people who want to beat the city's famous heat by staying indoors.

Cheap internet options in the Columbia metro area

Unfortunately, for those looking for cheap internet options in Columbia, there aren't many. Most plans start at $50 per month unless you’re an existing customer of T-Mobile or Verizon and are eligible for their 5G home internet offerings. That said, if you live in a low-income household, you might qualify for the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides a discount of $30 monthly on home internet services.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Fastest internet providers in Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia residents have access to comfortable median download speeds above 200Mbps. Gig-plus options are available from AT&T, Spectrum or EarthLink for higher speeds. AT&T, EarthLink and EIN have the fastest hookup with 5,000Mbps fiber plans, though it should be noted that EarthLink and EIN are using AT&T’s network.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

What’s the final word on internet providers in Columbia?

Most Columbia residents will be well served by AT&T's fiber internet or Spectrum's cable connection, the options most available in the city. Some Cola residents have access to 5G home internet from T-Mobile or Verizon -- each makes for a good option for existing customers of their wireless services due to the deep monthly discounts they offer.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Columbia

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it's impractical to personally test every ISP in a given city. So what’s our approach? We start by researching the pricing, availability and speed information drawing on our own historical ISP data, the provider sites and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov.

But it doesn’t end there. We go to the FCC's website to check our data and ensure we're considering every ISP that provides service in an area. We also input local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. To evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP's service, we look at sources including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of the time of publication.

Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions:

While the answer to those questions is often layered and complex, the providers who come closest to "yes" on all three are the ones we recommend.

To explore our process in more depth, visit our How We Test ISPs page.

Internet providers in Columbia FAQs