Photo above from left: Brig. Gen. R. Van McCarty, Assistant Adjunct General – Army, South Carolina National Guard; Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone; Assistant Solicitor Kelvin Wright; and SCESGR State Chair Eli Wishart.
Duffie Stone and the Solicitors Office win award
Solicitor Duffie Stone and the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office were honored this week with the “Above and Beyond Award” from the South Carolina Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (SC ESGR), a Department of Defense (DoD) office, for extraordinary support of its employee who serves in the South Carolina Army National Guard.
The ESGR “Above and Beyond Award” recognizes American employers providing extraordinary patriotic support and cooperation to their employees, who like the citizen warriors before them, have answered their nation’s call to serve, said Eli Wishart, SC ESGR state chair. Supportive employers are critical to maintaining the strength and readiness of the nation’s Guard and Reserve units.
Assistant Solicitor Kelvin Wright, a Colleton County native, served as a captain in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps with the S.C. Army National Guard’s 351st Aviation Support Battalion. He served for a year in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Kuwait and Iraq.
“I believe Solicitor Stone went above and beyond what most employers have to do,” Wright said.
“He helped to contribute to national security and protecting liberty and freedom by supporting my efforts.” Stone and the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office join thousands of American employers who have reviewed and amended their current human resources policies to ensure compliance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Many employers provide support far beyond what USERRA requires to include pay differential to offset the loss of wages, and extension of health care benefits which complement coverage provided by the military when their employees are mobilized.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees elects new slate of officers
The Beaufort Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees has re-elected Terry Murray, retired chief financial officer of Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority, as chair of the nonprofit hospital’s governing body.
Elected as vice chair is Spring Island resident William A. Himmelsbach, a retired health care executive with extensive experience in nonprofit hospitals and health care organizations.
David L. Tedder, a lifelong Beaufort County resident and a private practice and local government attorney, was re-elected board secretary. He previously served on the boards of Broad River Healthcare and Beaufort Ambulatory Surgery Center. He has served on the Beaufort Memorial Board of Trustees for nine years.
The nine members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by Beaufort County Council and serve rotating terms. Dr. Mark Dean, a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon in practice for 20 years with Beaufort Orthopaedic Sports and Spine Center, was chosen to fill the seat vacated by board-certified OB-GYN Dr. Patricia Thompson, who stepped down from the board after joining Beaufort Memorial Physician Partners.
A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Dean received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and completed both his internship and residency at the university’s Parkland Memorial Hospital. He went on to train in knee and shoulder surgery at the prestigious Steadman-Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colo.
Dean is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and has served as the team physician for the Denver Broncos, the U.S. Pro Ski Tour and the U.S. Olympic Ski Team. Locally, he is the team physician for several high school athletic teams and is a consultant to elite tennis and golf academies.
Now in her ninth year on the board, Murray was elected chair in 2014. Prior to being appointed to the hospital Board of Trustees, she served on the Broad River Healthcare Board of Directors. A resident of Beaufort for 37 years, she has been active in a number of local civic organizations, serving as board chair of the Historic Beaufort Foundation, Beaufort County Open Land Trust and Friends of Caroline Hospice.
Himmelsbach, the new vice chair, was formerly president and CEO of Detroit’s major trauma center, Holy Cross Health System in South Bend, Ind., St. Mary’s Health Services in Grand Rapids, Mich., and The Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn., the third oldest psychiatric hospital in the U.S. Most recently, he was president and CEO of New York’s Cardiovascular Research Foundation, a nonprofit academic research organization with a $40 million operating budget.
Buckwalter Dental Care opens new office
Dr. Joel Darrah announced the location of their new offices at Buckwalter Place in Bluffton recently. Dr. Darrah offers comprehensive family and general dentistry as well as procedures including crowns, root canals, veneers, implants, cosmetic dentistry, teeth whitening and dentures.
Buckwalter Dental Care is dedicated to not only serving the community of Bluffton but also the surrounding areas of Sun City and Okatie. With Dr. Darrah at the helm of Buckwalter Dental Care, patients will feel right at home with the newly designed office which includes personal touches and specially designed exam rooms with all the creature comforts of home, including televisions on the ceilings to watch during your appointment.
For more information, visit www.buckwalterdentalcare.com.
