[caption id="attachment_22324" align="alignright" width="300"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/COMMUNITY-STATE-AWARDS.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-22324" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/COMMUNITY-STATE-AWARDS-300x214.jpg" alt="From left to right: M. LaFrance Ferguson, MD and Faith Lawrence Polkey, MD. Photo by Bob Sofaly." width="300" height="214" /></a> From left to right: M. LaFrance Ferguson, MD and Faith Lawrence Polkey, MD. Photo by Bob Sofaly.[/caption]

Beaufort Jasper Hampton Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. (BJHCHS) has two physicians that were recently recognized by the South Carolina Primary Health Care Association (SCPHCA) for their statewide achievements.

The SCPHCA is the trade association, established in 1979, that represents the majority of the Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in South Carolina, of which BJHCHS is a member.  The FQHCs in South Carolina currently employs more than 275 Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, and Midwives and serves over 335,000 patients.

M. LaFrance Ferguson, MD, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), BJHCHS, was named “Health Care Provider of the Year” (2014), for exemplary performance by a physician in the community based health care setting.  Dr. Ferguson, a native of Beaufort County, who specializes in Family Medicine, has been the CMO at BJHCHS for over twenty (25) years.

Faith Lawrence Polkey, MD, Chief of Pediatrics, BJHCHS, Regional Director of Medical Education and Assistant Professor, A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine for the South Carolina Campus, was recognized by the SCPHCA for her outstanding leadership and tireless commitment to advocacy on behalf of medically underserved patients and was named “Community Health Center Advocate” (2014).  Dr. Polkey is a native of Charleston, SC and has been affiliated with BJHCHS since 2002.