LAURINBURG — Scotland Health Care System has a mission of providing its patients with safe, high quality, compassionate and sustainable health care. It’s a mission that is embraced by employees from top to bottom.
That was the message Tuesday from David Pope, the hospital’s chief operating officer, when he gave a presentation to the local Rotary Club.
“We are committed to taking care of this community, he said. “Scotland County is No. 99 out of 100 in North Carolina for health care. The study that created that number may be flawed, bit is a reality that we face every day.”
If there is a segment of the population that Scotland Health Care System wants to assist most, it’s those who have no health insurance.
“:Scotland Health Care embraces those who have the inability to pay,” Pope said. “We are proud that we take care of the community — the whole community.”
He added that there are many areas hospital staff and the community can be proud of. Among those are:
— Having a helicopter on the hospital’s grounds 24/7, which makes transports between hospitals in the most urgent of situations even quicker.
“The people who use the helicopter … if it wasn’t for that helicopter, probably would die in the hospital,” Pope said.
— The monthly DAISY Award, which recognizes a nurse who has gone above and beyond in the care of patients.
— Tools For Healthy Living, a free program being held on Thursday at the W.R. Dulin Center from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
— The national Energy Star Award, given to those facilities that are energy efficient.
— Twenty recent nursing graduates
— Scotland Regional Hospice.
“We as Americans rarely ever have a good conversation about how we want to die,” Pope said. “But leaving it for others leaves a tremendous burden, and I’m proud we have Scotland Regional Hospice to assist people through it.”
He added that the Scotland Memorial Foundation raised more than $900,000 in 2018 and directed about $172,000 to disaster relief after recent hurricanes.
Pope then spoke about the Scotland Physicians Network. He said there are clinics in Laurinburg (two); Bennettsville, South Carolina; Maxton; Pembroke; and Wagram.
“If you need a doctor, we want you to go to one of ours,” Pope said.
He also touted the fact that Scotland Health Care System is a part of the Atrium Health Care System, but also partners with other health care systems.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or cvincent@laurinburgexchange.com.