COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina House of Representatives recognized St. Joseph’s/Candler health system of Savannah on Wednesday with a resolution to be given to CEO Paul Hinchey.
Bluffton Republicans Bill Herbkersman and Weston Newton, along with four other lawmakers representing Beaufort and Jasper counties sponsored H3841, a resolution noting that the Georgia provider cares for patients in South Carolina, too, including residents of Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties.
The lawmakers praised St. Joseph’s/Candler for its “expansion of needed medical services and technology to that region, designed not to replace local providers, but rather to complement and supplement services for the betterment of the community.”
A conflict last year illustrated what happens when others believed that wasn’t happening.
St. Joseph’s/Candler had brought a regulatory challenge against Hilton Head Hospital’s plans to build an $18 million Bluffton Outpatient Center.
The Savannah health system was concerned the rival system’s new facility would shift patients away from its existing ones. However, a compromise was reached in October.
South Carolina lawmakers also pointed to St. Joseph’s/Candler and its support of the Don Ryan Innovation Center in Bluffton and recognized that the medical system is the most recent recipient of the American Hospital Association’s Foster G. McGaw Prize for distinguished excellence in community service.
The award, which goes to only one hospital in the nation each year, recognized St. Joseph’s/Candler “as a national model for community outreach, service and engagement,” according to the resolution.
