By Marie McAden
When Dr. Tim Pearce started practicing medicine in Beaufort, he was introduced in the community as the “young surgeon.” Nearly four decades later, he has earned a new title.
“I have proudly taken up the mantle of being the ‘old surgeon,’” he said.
Now 72, the board-certified general surgeon retires this week from the staff of Beaufort Memorial Hospital (BMH), where he has treated thousands of patients for an array of ailments from hernias to breast cancer.
During his distinguished medical career, he has served as chairman of the hospital board, BMH chief of staff, chairman of the Beaufort Jasper Higher Education Commission, clinical instructor of surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), and president of the South Carolina Medical Association (SCMA).
“Dr. Pearce has contributed so much to this community and the advancement of medical care to our patients,” BMH President and CEO Russell Baxley said. “He is a living example of our mission and has left a legacy that will be long remembered.”
After graduating from MUSC and completing his surgical residency at Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, Pearce started his career at Naval Hospital Beaufort where he served as surgeon and head of emergency services.
In 1983, he opened his own shop as a sole practitioner, one of just three surgeons in private practice in Beaufort. With no helicopter service to transfer the critically injured to tertiary care centers, the three physicians were tasked with operating on virtually all the major trauma patients in the area.
“It was a rare night when the pager didn’t go off,” Pearce recalled. “I would operate on a gunshot wound in the middle of the night, then go into the office the next day and see patients with colon cancer or gallbladder disease.”
In those days, there were no physician assistants or nurse practitioners to support the care of patients. In addition, the hospital did not have a CAT scan, making it much more difficult to diagnose illnesses and injuries.
“If we had a GI (gastrointestinal) bleeder, we had to operate to look for the bleed and hope we could find it,” he said. “Today, we can find the bleed with a CAT scan, embolize it, and avoid surgery all together.”
In 1988, Pearce added the first partner to his practice – board-certified general surgeon Dr. Gordon Krueger, a former Navy surgeon who had been practicing in Manning.
“The first office he put me in was a broom closet,” Krueger quipped. “We saw things 180 degrees differently, but we got along famously. Tim Pearce is the fairest partner you could have.”
Although the medical staff had doubled, the two surgeons were as busy as ever, often working 80-hour weeks.
“They were super heroes,” said Dr. Pearce’s wife, Brenda. “I don’t know how they managed it, except that they were totally dedicated to their work. Their patients always came first.”
In addition to performing surgeries at Beaufort Memorial, Pearce also worked at the Naval Hospital. In 1996, he started seeing patients at the old Hampton Hospital, then at Harrison Peeples Health Care Center. For 24 years, he made the one-hour drive to Hampton County once or twice a week.
“It’s a rural community much like Roxboro, North Carolina, where my family is from,” Pearce said. “They’re good country people. They really appreciate what you do.”
As the greater Beaufort area grew, so did the practice. By 2003, his Surgical Specialists office had grown to seven doctors. Always looking to provide the best care to patients, the team was quick to adopt new approaches and advanced technology designed to improve outcomes.
“When laparoscopic gallbladder surgery took off in the early ‘90s, we realized it was something we needed to learn,” Pearce said. “Patients did so much better with minimally invasive surgery. It was just stunning.”
As a member of the hospital board, Pearce pushed to require that all BMH physicians be board certified.
“He has had a profound effect on this institution,” BMH vascular surgeon Dr. Chad Tober said. “When he got an idea in his head, he pursued it until it got done.”
Among those ideas was the need to have a vascular surgeon on the staff.
“After I interviewed with the hospital, he would call me every six to 12 weeks to ask me when I was coming,” Tober said. “If he hadn’t been as persistent as he was, I wouldn’t be here – and it has been one of the best things I’ve done in my career.”
Following the national trend of hospital-owned practices, Surgical Specialists was bought by Beaufort Memorial Hospital in 2009. Five years later, Pearce stopped taking general surgery calls and has since focused on breast surgery and serving as director of the Beaufort Memorial Wound Care Center.
“It’s hard for people to understand the rigors of being on call as a general surgeon,” he said. “But looking back, I can’t imagine choosing any other profession.”
In the coming months, Pearce plans to slow down, play more golf, travel and tackle his wife’s extensive to-do list. He’s also working with a personal trainer at LifeFit Wellness Center to improve his physical fitness.
Despite being retired, he will continue to be involved with the South Carolina Medical Association and will consult with the staff at the wound care center as needed.
“It’s been difficult walking away from my patients, some of whom I’ve treated since the late 1980s,” he said. “To have seen what our hospital has become and had the opportunity to be a part of it has been incredible.”
