A Big Southern Shout Out to Beaufort Memorial Hospital

Our Hometown Healthcare Hero

story by KAREN SNYDER          physician photos by PAUL NURNBERG

Looking back to March 2020, few of us could have imagined what challenges our community would face in the year ahead as the global COVID-19 pandemic found its way to Beaufort. It was and still is a time of challenge for our local medical community and healthcare system. Thankfully, our small town continues to rely on the dedicated healthcare team at Beaufort Memorial Hospital (BMH), who has played a pivotal role in ensuring our community’s health and well-being during the COVID-19 crisis.

From the start, BMH was there guiding our community through the process of managing disease. In fact, the hospital’s response to pandemic challenges has always been an immediate one — implementing federal CDC guidelines for virus protocols and treatment, and relying on the latest updated virus information to ensure the highest quality medical care possible.

“A year ago, BMH had no idea that a small bug was about to change how every employee performs their job,” explains Dr. Kurt Gambla, Chief Medical Officer. “The entire hospital has had all hands on deck in the last year, every employee, all in. Many took on new job responsibilities and tasks. They have spent a lot of time together, sometimes seeing their coworkers more than their own families, all while dealing with schools and childcare closings, and virtual schooling of their children. BMH even opened up its own childcare center.”

Beginning last March, immediate action and response were required from all parts of the hospital to set up mobile testing sites. Employees from departments such as Cardiac Rehab, Community Wellness, Materials Management, and Nutrition Services stepped up to the plate, working beyond their regular job responsibilities to suddenly become COVID-19 screeners. The BMH Foundation started a COVID-19 Relief Fund to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and help employees directly impacted by COVID.

“Our employees are passionate about their jobs. They are a family and a strong community within the walls of the hospital,” adds Dr. Gambla. “Now they’ve demonstrated their commitment outside the hospital walls to the entire Beaufort community.”

Perhaps most challenging is the hospital’s effort to respond to the peaks and valleys associated with the community spread of COVID-19. Now, there’s hope on the horizon with access to the recently distributed COVID-19 vaccines. At the same time, that also poses a Herculean challenge for BMH, being a major provider of vaccinations to our local population.

“Hospitals don’t typically test for flu or vaccinate the population. That’s generally left to clinics, pharmacies, or your primary care physician. But with COVID-19, BMH is responsible for delivering vaccinations not once, but twice, to our local community,” explains BMH President and CEO Russell Baxley. “We are very happy to serve in this fight against COVID-19. I don’t know another team that could pull off what we have,” he says, adding that the hospital vaccinated some 1,000 people or more during its first mass vaccination clinic drive-thru.

According to Debbie Schuchmann, Associate Vice President and Chief Development Officer for the BMH Foundation, “What all of this has taught us is how important our community-based hospital is to Beaufort, not only during a crisis, but as we look ahead to the healthcare needs now and in the future.”
Schuchmann and the Foundation are now leading a $5 million fundraising campaign to complete much-needed improvements to the hospital’s Surgical Pavilion. “We plan to renovate our current operating rooms, providing more space for upgraded equipment and increase space for staff to move equipment around during surgery and also remain socially distanced,” she explains. “The Surgical Pavilion project also includes improvements to sterilization processes, mechanical equipment, and HVAC systems.”

Over halfway to their fundraising goal, Schuchmann asserts, “The pandemic has made apparent that Beaufort Memorial Hospital is the cornerstone of our community. We are indeed Beaufort’s second-largest employer. We’ve demonstrated through this crisis that we will do whatever is necessary to step up to the plate on behalf of our community, friends, and loved ones. Now, we’re asking for the community to invest in us through their donations to our campaign to ensure we’ll continue to provide quality healthcare for years to come.”

Recent population growth in Beaufort and Jasper counties is yet another reason why making improvements to the BMH Surgical Pavilion is vitally important. “The surgical center is the heart of the hospital. At some point, those living in Beaufort and surrounding areas are likely to need surgical services. Through a successful fundraising campaign, we’ll be able to provide the latest technologies, ample working space, and just as important, continue to attract highly qualified physicians and technicians to the hospital,” she adds.

Dr. Gambla emphasizes the Surgical Pavilion’s importance saying, “As administrators, we ask our providers to do two things, both tall orders, and we are very grateful that they always answer this call: one, to be clinically and technically excellent, and two, to be collegial, collaborative, and nice to your colleagues, staff, and patients. As administrators, on our end of the contract, they can expect two things from us: one, to provide the tools they need to effectively practice their art, and two, to remove obstacles that prevent them from doing so.” According to Dr. Gambla, the renovation of the Surgical Pavilion “will allow us to fulfill our contract to providers with a state-of-the-art, more spacious and comfortable facility and modern technology, which we believe, in turn, will support them in their mission to provide the best care for our surgical patients.”

BMH Vascular Surgeon Dr. Chad Tober agrees. “Renovating and expanding our operating rooms isn’t just a nice thing to do; it’s a necessity. Our rooms are over 25 years old, designed for that time’s technology. If we are to deliver the surgical care with the technology of today for the next 20 years, we must move ahead with this project!” Thanking those who have already supported the project through donations to the Foundation, Dr. Tober requests that the community, the physicians, and staff consider supporting the campaign. “We need your help! Together, we will keep Beaufort Memorial able to deliver state-of-the-art care for decades to come.”

Dr. John DeWitt, BMH Psychiatrist and member of the Physician Philanthropy team, puts it simply, “The Jewel of the Carolina Coast needs a ‘jewel’ of a surgical center!”

The 2021 BMH Foundation’s 31st Annual Valentine’s Ball, held virtually last month, went a long way in the community’s efforts to support the Surgical Pavilion project, raising approximately $226,000 through direct donations and support of its silent auction. An event co-chair for the Ball, Dr. Heath Simmons stressed the importance of the fundraising effort saying, “In today’s world of virtual meetings and virtual work, we are not able to do virtual surgery. We need new facilities that help recruit physicians and maintain the ones we have. So, we need everyone to support BMH and the Foundation.”

There’s no doubt that both 2020 and 2021 ushered in many changes and challenges for Beaufort as we learn to live and care for our community during an international pandemic. Thankfully, we know we can count on our “Hometown Healthcare Heroes” at Beaufort Memorial to see us through. To support the Foundation’s Surgical Pavilion Campaign, please visit www.bmhfoundationsc.org.