SC Yacht Club manager establishes program to help hospitality workers get medical care
During his years of working as a chef, Lee Lucier saw waiters, bartenders and others in the Hilton Head Island hospitality industry struggle to afford health care.
Lucier, now general manager of the South Carolina Yacht Club, says it is time to help those workers, so he has established the Hospitality Employees Life Program.
HELP will sponsor events to raise money for the Volunteers in Medicine clinic on Hilton Head. The clinic already provides health care for many hospitality workers, and Lucier said he hopes to raise money to help continue those services.
VIM officials say they welcome the assistance and see their clinic as a supporter of the hospitality industry, providing many of its workers who can't afford insurance with low-cost or free care.
"VIM's mission to provide medical care to the uninsured or underinsured ... supports the businesses in the hospitality industry, which largely drive the local economy," VIM senior development officer Ginger Allen said.
Allen said the clinic is keeping employees and their families healthy, and without VIM, they would have no other access to care, except for the hospital emergency room.
VIM director of development Katie Barrett said 70 percent of the clinic's patients are employed, and the majority work in hospitality.
Dr. Raymond Cox, VIM executive medical director, said the clinic can't guarantee that every dollar raised will be spent specifically on hospitality employees, but the funds will help the clinic continue to operate.
The first event planned to benefit HELP is the Lowcountry Pop-Up, scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. May 2. The event will be part of the Hilton Head Island Boat Show at the S.C. Yacht Club in Windmill Harbour.
Lucier said the goal is to keep the clinic's services available.
"We're just trying to get further income to VIM to benefit the people they're already serving," Lucier said.
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This story was originally published April 24, 2015 at 5:12 PM with the headline "SC Yacht Club manager establishes program to help hospitality workers get medical care."