Double R Flo-Town

Leadership, Service, and Community with Carl Humphries

• Robert Thomas & Reeves Cannon • Season 1 • Episode 33

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What does it take to build an organization that serves an entire community?

This week on Double R, we sit down with Carl Humphreys, CEO of Hope Health, to discuss healthcare, leadership, workforce challenges, and the incredible growth of Florence, South Carolina.

Carl shares:

The unlikely story that led him into healthcare leadership
How Hope Health grew from an HIV/AIDS nonprofit into one of South Carolina's largest community health organizations
Why caring matters more than simply doing the job
The importance of partnerships—not competition—in healthcare
The future of Florence and the Pee Dee

Whether you're interested in healthcare, business leadership, or the future of our community, this conversation offers valuable insights.

👍 Like the video, subscribe, and let us know who you'd like to see on a future episode of Double R.

#DoubleR #HopeHealth #FlorenceSC #Leadership #Healthcare #Community #PeeDee #BusinessLeadership #SouthCarolina #podcast 

00:00 Introduction
00:17 Working with McLeod & Healthcare Partnerships
02:08 Hiring People Who Truly Care
06:02 Carl's Career Journey Begins
08:22 TobyMac & An Unexpected Friendship
13:37 From HIV/AIDS Organization to Hope Health
17:16 Who Hope Health Serves
22:23 Why Everyone Needs a Family Doctor
27:07 The Growth of Florence
33:10 Transforming Downtown Florence
37:28 Hope Health Across South Carolina
39:20 Champion for Youth Award
42:17 Closing Thoughts

Hospitals As Partners And Rivals

unknown

Mr.

SPEAKER_02

Carl Humphreys, thank you for coming by today.

SPEAKER_00

Appreciate you inviting me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's exciting. You know, we're on the McLeod board together. That's right. Which is so cool to me. I always thought it was cool that you're on that and how closely y'all work together. And it's a good dynamic.

SPEAKER_00

I I think it is. And uh Ed Bealing, our chief medical officer, Dr. Bealing, serves on the MUSC board. So I'm on the McLeod board, he's on the MUSC board, and we value those relationships. We can't do what we do as a community health center without the help of the hospitals. When it's time for our patients to be hospitalized or if they need a certain type of specialty care, that's where those relationships become very critical. And uh we can't do what we do without them.

SPEAKER_02

A lot of people probably think y'all compete. No, you work together.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. We do. We well, we it's both, right? So we we're competitors and we acknowledge that in in some areas, right? So um when I need a primary care provider and I'm looking to hire Dr. Smith, uh, they may be trying to hire Dr. Smith as well. And so we're we're fighting over Dr. Smith. So in that way we compete. We compete after nurses, we compete for front desk workers, but that's friendly competition, right? And that's uh both of us trying to get a workforce that can that can help in the community. We compete in some business lines. So we do primary care, both of the hospitals provide primary care. Right. We have pediatrics, McLeod has pediatrics. So there's competition there, but we acknowledge that competition. We acknowledge where we're competing with one another, but we uh acknowledge also that we're in it together, right? We're both trying to serve the community, we're both trying to um make health outcomes better for uh Florence and for the surrounding areas throughout the PD. And so from that respect, we're much more uh cooperative and um in spirit than we are competitors.

Hiring People Who Truly Care

Reeves

So, Carl, you're the CEO of Hope Health. Yes. And you just touched on something that I wanted us to get into. I didn't know that we'd start with it, but yeah, you talked about hiring quality health care workers. How hard is that as the CEO of Hope Health to get quality health care physicians all the way down to nurses' aides?

SPEAKER_00

Uh yeah, it's a challenge. I was having breakfast with uh a community leader probably about a week ago. I think I ran into one of y'all when I was when I was talking to this this guy. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Reeves

I met you at Exil or saw you at Ex U.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Chipper Smith, City Councilman. He said, um, he said, I'll try to get his quote right. It's easy to hire people to work. It's not easy to hire people that care.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And and I left that breakfast. I was thinking about that, and I was like, you know, uh, you know, I've been I've been using that, I've been talking about it for the last week or so. There are folks out there who will work, but we want to find people who care, right? And so there's a difference between an employee who will come, meet the bare minimum of what's needed to check the boxes. Uh, and but in healthcare, that's not what we're looking for, you know. And I think McLeod would say the same thing. We're looking for folks who will uh will go the extra mile and who will do the things that are needed to really uh meet the needs of the patient. And so from a workforce standpoint, there are folks out there, but we want the best. We want folks who really care. Uh, you know, another way to look at it is, and and you could you could kind of think about this from a real estate perspective too. Whenever you're uh working and you're doing what you do, are you completing a task and are you concerned about the task or are you concerned about the person behind the task? Right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00

So you can check boxes from a real estate perspective and say, well, I did this and I did that, but I know how the two of you guys operate. You're concerned about the person behind the task. You want to find out, well, what makes this person tick? What are their needs, and how can I meet the needs of the person rather than just going through the motions? Because I can still get my job done going through the motions, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So at Hope Health, we're looking for people who are interested in the person behind the task.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

And that's not always easy to find, but we're doing you know, we got a lot of great people who see that.

Reeves

And I'm sure part of your recruiting effort is casting that vision, telling that story, and hopefully those individuals. And I wonder if there's some of you know, I've talked to people about the generational differences between boomers and the younger generations, and and maybe some of the younger generation is more interested in working for a cause.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

Reeves

And that's part of what you're you're sharing. And then it's also a natural fit for health care because it's a service industry.

SPEAKER_00

I think you're right, Reeves. Uh, you know, I I feel like, and you I don't know if you guys would agree with this or not. Maybe you've seen it and have it. In the last decade, we've done a good bit of of youth bashing, right? We we say that the youth don't work as hard as we do and they don't get it, and they're not gonna be able to get it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, and I think we overdo that because I've seen what you see. I see a lot of young folks coming into the the work, uh into the workplace these days who are looking for connectivity. They're looking for something that feeds their passion, uh, they're looking for something that meets uh, you know, you could call it an emotional need, maybe it's a spiritual connection, whatever, that goes beyond just, you know, clocking in to get a paycheck. And so I'm optimistic about that. And I see a good bit of that in the younger generation. That's good. All right. Well, let's back up a minute. Yeah.

Carl’s Career Story And Roots

Reeves

So you're the CEO of Hope Health. Yeah. Kind of take us through your personal career story and kind of how you got to this point. How much time is it? I think it's interesting.

SPEAKER_02

We want to go all the way back to Toby Mack. Yeah. The days of you and Toby Mack.

Reeves

Start with that story.

SPEAKER_00

Tell us about Toby. Uh well, so so I'll try to keep it succinct. I went to Bethlehem Baptist Christian Academy. When I showed up there in the ninth grade, I immediately met these two girls uh with the last name McKeon, Carrie, and Kristen. One was in my class, a ninth grader, and one was a year ahead of me, tenth grade. Well, these were Toby's sisters.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00

Toby had already graduated.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So I didn't know him, but I heard about him. He was kind of a legend in the school, real popular guy. Everybody thought was cool and all that. And this was a this was a mostly white, suburban, private school, and there weren't a lot of people listening to rap music back then.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I happened to be one of them. I picked up rap music in Germany when my dad lived, when dad was stationed there. I lived on a military base, and I just loved it from the moment I heard it. And so right away there was this connection because Toby liked rap, and he was one of the few people in that environment. And so when I would start talking about rap music or maybe trying to rap a little bit, um, people would be like, Oh, that's that's little Toby right there. That's little Toby. Yeah. And I was like, what are they talking about? I didn't who I don't even know who they're talking about. And eventually through his sisters and through his family, I was like a a surrogate child. I was always over at the McKeon house, and that was kind of a place to hang out, and uh really loved his parents. And uh through through the over time, I got to meet Toby and got to know him. And then in college, we we didn't go to the same college. I came here to USC, but we just became friends because of rap music. And he would send me songs and say, What do you think about this song? And I'm like, You're asking me? You know what? I think and uh and so we just maintained that relationship. Now I wouldn't say we're close friends, but we're friends. And we talk and we text and play golf together, you know, whenever we can. And you know, you guys know he was here in Florence last month and had the opportunity to go down and play uh play golf together. Oh, that's awesome. Broom's Edge, which is a very in a nutshell.

SPEAKER_02

Where does he live now?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so he's in Nashville. He's in Nashville, yeah. Been in Nashville, really going all the way back to the days of DC Talk. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Reeves

All right, and so you mentioned your game cock. Yeah, and we'll come back to that maybe later. Yeah, it's very important. But take us from being a game cock and going to college, and we just lost half of our use.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, uh, yeah. I mean, we didn't need those half.

SPEAKER_00

Well maybe we'll get some of them back by telling people I was a Clemson fan as a child. So my mom's side of the family family was Clemson, my dad a game cock. So I grew up as a Clemson fan. Uh my dad says that when he was serving the country in Vietnam, my my my mom's brothers, my uncles, got brainwashed me as a as a small child, brain brainwashed me into being being Clemson. But we corrected that later. Yeah, when it was time for me to go to college, dad said I wanted to go to Liberty where all my friends were going. And my dad, mom and dad were leaving for Korea, and they and and their roots are here. They wanted me to be in South Carolina near my aunts and uncles and my grandmother. So they said, well, my dad said, you can go to college anywhere you want to go, but if you want me to pay for it, you'll go to the University of South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02

There we go. So that made that decision.

SPEAKER_00

That's how I became a game cock, and uh never looked back because that's where I met my wife. Uh she was uh she grew up, lived her whole life in Columbia. She was a student at Columbia College, uh, which was an all-girls school there in Columbia. And we met waiting on tables, and uh, and so really my career started uh early in my marriage. We were we were waiting on tables. I was getting my master's degree in social work, and uh it I I have to try to tell this story succinctly because it has a lot of moving parts to it, but it's interesting the way God works in our lives, right? Because I wanted to work with children. I I got my master's degree in social work, thought I wanted to do something with children. I went and applied for this job at the health department in Orangeburg to work with children. And the guy immediately started telling me about, oh, you don't want that job. He kind of pushed me this other direction. He said, Well, it pays more and it requires experience, but I'm gonna get a waiver for you and you can uh and and you can start Monday. He hadn't he really hadn't even asked me the first interview question yet. Wow. And I'm like, I'm simply like you want to come to Harnsburg, come on. Yeah, yeah. What I heard was pays more, yeah, and I can start Monday. Right, yeah. Because uh, you know, Beth and Beth and I were paying the bills by waiting on tables, and I was ready to start my career to have that professional job, right? So I show up and it's is I got one of these 1960s health department desks, and the nurse shows me my office. The guy who offered me the job, the head social work guy is nowhere to be seen. So she takes me to my office and she's and she says, Oh, this would be your desk, and there's a big red HIV AIDS manual on the desk. And I said, Well, what's this HIV AIDS manual? She said, Well, you're the new HIV AIDS social worker. I said, I am. It'll be great. So Crawford, my boss, you know, the social work boss, Crawford Dinkins, great guy, and um he is a graduate of Claflin University and career social worker, still lives in Orangeburg. He didn't tell me. And I found and I put the pieces of the puzzle together later. The position was vacant for two years. It required

Accidental Start In HIV Social Work

SPEAKER_00

a master's degree in social work, which you know, there weren't a lot of master's level social workers in Orangeburg. Right. We lived in Columbia, so I would drive to this job. And he was desperate to get that job, Phil. And uh, and so I I think he was just trying to get me started and maybe hope that I but here's what I'd say it's like a piece almost immediately came over me. And I'm looking at that manual and I'm looking at this nurse, and I'm like, God has a plan, and I can't wait to see what he's gonna do with this, you know. And I always had a passion for people that nobody else really seemed to want to work with or that cared about, right? And so there was something about me that was immediately attracted to this idea of serving people who nobody else wanted to be around.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And so that's how my career started in HIV and AIDS. And I did that for six years. I worked for the health department, I got some some leadership responsibilities, I got promoted in ways that were really unheard of for a social worker there, and God was just making all these things happen. And what and what ended up coming out of that is I became qualified through those six years to be the executive director of the HIV AIDS organization here in Florence called Hope for the PD. And so that's how all this started is HIV AIDS organization, they hired me to be the executive director. We had six employees, and we had maybe 300 patients. And for the first six, seven years I was here, that's what we did. We served HIV AIDS patients, and a lot of people from Florence will remember that. We were called Hope for the PD.

Reeves

So, what kind what years was this?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, early 2000s. Okay, okay. Yeah, then in 2007, we became a federally qualified health center. Uh, so that was an application that we had to put in federal government, and what that did completely changed our mission. So we went from being focused, a narrow focus on only helping people living with HIV, to being a health care provider that could help anybody in the community, right? Through primary care, behavioral health, women's health services, and those types of things. So that adjusted our mission. Uh, we still have a huge commitment to the HIV AIDS population. Um, we serve more patients in the state of South Carolina living with HIV than any other entity other than MUSC and USC School of Medicine, which you know are two huge hospital systems. Conglomerate. So we're right behind them in terms of service to people living with HIV.

SPEAKER_02

Is there still a lot of HIV?

SPEAKER_00

Uh thankfully, you know, thankfully, we've done a lot to to, you know, to kind of alleviate uh new HIV AIDS cases and they but there are people testing positive all the time. I think the reason why you hear about it less is because advancements in HIV. People look at it more as a chronic illness now, yeah, you know, like hypertension or diabetes, rather than uh uh a terminal illness.

Reeves

Yeah, I remember when Magic Johnson, I remember the press conference.

SPEAKER_02

That was a big deal.

Reeves

Oh I mean, I I could I still vividly remember the way his tie was tied, announcing to the world he had contracted HIV. I mean, and I was a young guy, and I remember thinking this hero of mine, yeah, basketball player, is gonna die. He was my favorite player, yeah, and he's still living with HIV.

SPEAKER_00

So that's a microcosm of what we're talking about, right? And the the treatments that are available to Magic Johnson, and obviously, you know, early in the early days, he would he would probably had access quicker and you know, the best of uh of all the providers. But those same medications and those same treatments are available to people who live in East Florence and who don't have any resources to pay for it. So the the the there are ways that we're able to get access to those drug treatments for our patients, the same thing that Magic Johnson had. And I love that. I love the fact that we're able to make a difference in people's lives. But but back to Magic for a minute. Okay. He was my childhood hero. I remember that press conference like you do. Yeah. Um ironically, the the night that he made that announcement, that's when this support group started in Florence. These guys met in a living room uh here way before my time, and they they formed the support group, and it was coincidental, I don't believe in coincidences, but it was happenstance that they happened to me, they didn't know he was gonna make that announcement, to form the group Hope for the PD. It was a small, it was a support group, buried grassroots, they cooked meals, they provided transportation, they didn't have employees or money, but that's how it all started the night Magic Johnson announced to the royal HIV positive. So we we we had that as our founding date, 1991. I think it was November, I want to say 11th, 1991.

Reeves

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And that's the founding date of Hope for the PD. We later changed our name, we rebranded and changed our name to Hope

From Hope For The PD To HopeHealth

SPEAKER_00

Health, became an FQHC in 2007, and really just opened our doors to health care for anybody in the community that needs it.

Reeves

Wow. So, I mean, we've seen that footprint expand. I mean you've got a beautiful facility, and I can't remember which guest it was, but one of the guests we've had on the podcast was just you know singing praises of you and the whole you leave, Hope Health, um, for being downtown Florence. Um, I know you're also over on uh Southboro. Yeah. Um, you know, and so tell us about the broader services and who can go get service.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Or basically anybody. And I think that I'm glad you asked that question because there's still there are people in our community that misunderstand Hope health. There are actually some people that don't realize what we do to help the indigent and needy.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And then there are people who think that that's all we do is help the indigent and needy. Right. And so, you know, the the message we want to convey is all of the above, right? We have patients at Hope Health that are members of the country club and that own businesses, lawyers, doctors, et cetera. And they choose to come to Hope Health for their care because of the quality of services that we provide. And they some some folks like the idea that um our resources go to help uh other people in need. So it's like uh, you know, giving giving back. That's right. That's right. Um so what do you call that? What's that term? Um paying it forward. Paying it forward. Yeah, there you go. Uh but but then when people are living at or below the poverty level,

Sliding Fee Care And Medication Help

SPEAKER_00

200% of poverty or below, we have a sliding fee scale. Uh so we're not a free clinic. Um we have a free clinic here in Florence. They do an awesome job. I don't know if you've ever had Mercy Medicine in, but they do some great work. That's not what we are. We're not a free clinic, um, but we charge on a sliding fee scale. So it's based on family size and income. So if you're 200% of poverty or below, we charge you based on that. And so the the bottom of that scale, the nominal fee is $20. So for $20, the poorest of the poor can come in and see a physician or nurse practitioner if they need x-rays or labs as part of that visit. It's a it's covered by the $20. Oh my goodness. And then if they need medications and they can't afford them, we have three or four different programs in place to help them get their medications, either at a reduced cost or for free, depending on their unique situation. Again, their their family size and income in any unique situation that they might have. So that's where we're different than a private practice is the sliding fee scale and the ability to have programs that help people who can't access care in any other way. The payback for the taxpayer for people in the community is if you've got someone who uh take a Medicaid patient, for example, Medicaid patient, we, you know, our taxpayer dollars pay for folks to have Medicaid. I'm a big supporter of that program. I hope that people use it for a period of time in their life when they need it and then can eventually move off of it. But for as long as they're on Medicaid, you and I are paying for it. Right. If they go to the emergency room every time they have a sore throat, which is what was happening. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And it still happens.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, still happens.

SPEAKER_00

You know, to the degree that we do our job as a community health center, we educate the community and we help those folks understand you don't need to go to the emergency room for non-emergencies.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

The hospital doesn't want folks coming to the emergency room.

SPEAKER_02

They think that's their only option.

SPEAKER_00

That's right.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

If you grew up in a in a sort of a family situation or a culture where grandma went to the emergency room when she got sick, mom went to the emergency room. That's all you know. Particularly if home remedies didn't work, you try home remedies, they didn't work. So, as a fairly qualified health center, and we use the term community health center just to simplify it, we want to educate the community that everybody can have a family doctor. Everybody can have a medical home. And we preach that to anybody that we come in contact with. And ironically, uh, when we're doing our job, it's it's it's unique. The the folks like we're talking about, the poorest of the poor, have engaged that message and they're like, yeah, okay, I can have that. That's what I want. Somebody who understands my family history, who will go the extra mile to help me get the things that I need, who will pay attention to the resources that are available in the community that might help me. But what I'm finding is the upper middle class, middle class, upper middle class folks in our community that I talk to, they're like, Well, I don't have a family doctor. And I'm like, why not? I mean, come on. Yeah, we're we're trying. To we're trying to convince people that everybody should have that and should be part of your life. And even if you're if you're healthy and you only need to get a checkup once a year, it's preventative health care. Your family physician, nurse practitioner, can find things early on that might help you stay healthier longer so that you don't go through a bad medical uh episode. Right.

Reeves

So so Robert, if he's got blue cross, blue shield, whatever insurance, he can go absolutely home health, yep, visit a primary care physician, have that ongoing relationship.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. We would build his his blue cross blue shield insurance the same way any doctor's office would. Yeah. We have Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance. In fact, uh Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance is 85% of our patients, and 15% or less is uninsured. So that surprises a lot of people. That is uh too. Yeah. Yeah.

Reeves

And just briefly, I want to touch is it difficult to get the message to the uh community that's in need of the most help? You know, it are is it hard to convince them? Is there anything that the broader community can be doing to let people know about the services available to Hope Help?

SPEAKER_00

I I think the first part of your question connects back to that conversation we were having earlier about workforce. Okay. To the extent that we have people who are engaged, who come to work every day thinking about how to make a difference and impact in people's lives, that becomes easier, right? Because people know if you're faking it and people know if you're going through the motions, they know when you're sincere. And so if you, if our workforce, and we have 700 and some odd, close to 800 employees at Hope Health, if that if those folks are truly engaged in what they do to the extent that they are, they're gonna have those conversations and it's gonna be easier for people to trust them and for people to say, Yeah, you know what, I I do want to try that. I do want to keep my appointment, I do want to do a better job of of showing up for uh for my appointments when they're when they're scheduled. And so the second part of your question is the is the community at large. And I think we we feel like we're really good at marketing and advertising. And when we compare ourselves to other community health centers around the state, we would give ourselves an A. But um it's not it's not good enough, right? It's like we're because there's still people who don't know what we do and understand what you do. So I think and rather than be offended by that or to be disappointed by that, we have to realize that's an everyday kind of task, right? To spread the word, to talk about it, to ask other people to talk about it. The two of you know now, so you can tell friends, you know, right?

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And so uh doing podcasts, doing uh commercials, doing billboards, things like this that help us continue to put that message out there of who we are and what we do.

Reeves

Well, and I know the billboard I see most often is Lenoris Sellers. Yeah, yeah, and him promoting, and you you're a big, like we've already said, you're a big game cock, and y'all have done a lot with Lenoris. And I was at the event uh at the country club where y'all had him in to speak and share a little bit about the

Getting The Message Out In Florence

Reeves

mission of Hope Health as well. So uh you're definitely getting the word out, yeah. And and um it's encouraging to see that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

Um you're the one that kept him at Carolina.

Reeves

It was all me.

SPEAKER_02

It was me.

SPEAKER_00

It was Hope Health. That's right. Uh not even not even close. Yeah, we we uh we we have a great relationship with Lenoris and now uh Jaden, his brother, and uh they have they've just been terrific people.

SPEAKER_02

Their heart's still in this community, isn't it? It's cool. Like he he still very much cares about this community.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely, and you can see it in what they do and and the uh how they talk, and it people can't get all of what I wish they could get from the two of them because they're they're they're both men of few words. Yeah, like if you interview them, they're not interested in bloviating, right? They just tell you, they answer your question and they move on. And that I think that's sort of kind of a tribute to how they were raised. They're not big talkers, right? Um, but they're great guys. Um, they have a great family.

SPEAKER_02

They do.

SPEAKER_00

Your mom and dad are both solid people, and I've I've enjoyed getting to know both of them. And I love the fact that that we were able to have this deal. Uh, you know, Lenoris and Jaden both received services from Hopel. I'm I'm allowed to say that as part of our as part of our deal.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And uh, and so the fact that they um were patients in our pediatric practice uh as they came along uh just made it very natural for us to say, hey, you know, why don't why don't we why don't we work on a a deal together?

How Florence Changed Over 20 Years

Reeves

So from a broader Florence perspective, you know, our our podcast is trying to highlight positive things that are going on in Florence, as well as things that we can, as a cu broad community, can work to improve. Give us your perspective, having lived in Florence now for 20 plus years. Yeah. Uh what are some ways What do we need to do better?

SPEAKER_02

Wow. Do we have three hours left?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, so that question has somewhat of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I moved here in 2000. So I I brought my wife here kicking and screaming, not because uh anything negative about Florence, but she just lived her whole life in one place. Columbia, South Carolina.

SPEAKER_03

Columbia was home, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And that was home, and that's where her grandmother was, and that's where my mama was, and and she just like, you know, do we do we have to go? Yeah, yeah. And I said, well, I said, it is an opportunity, and she and she realized what the opportunity that I had here, and and we got here, and this is my perspective. I don't know how many people would agree to this perspective or not, but when I came to Florence in 2000, while my wife both and I felt that Florence was somewhat closed as a community. I felt closed.

SPEAKER_02

I could see that. Oh, yeah. I could see that.

SPEAKER_00

And it was it was like either you grew up here or you didn't.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And uh, and I think for the first maybe five years or so, it felt that way.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But gradually um that went away. And I think we started making friends and we started to get to know people and established our church, and it it started feeling different. And some of that could have been Florence and it could have been some of the folks that that grew up here that kind of like, well, I I prefer for it to be stay like it was. Yeah, but some of it could have been us, you know, just not you weren't ready to we weren't, you know, we weren't ready to to to go out and meet people and to and to and to give and to open ourselves up and that type of thing. And so it could have it could have been a two-way street. But I do know, but I do feel like that over the past 20 years, well now it's been 26, that you've seen Florence just uh change so much and it seems more open. There's a lot of people that aren't from here. Um, the people that are from here are so good to talk to and so good to be around, and they care so deeply about their community. And so I think you know, as we begin to to realize that and see that, that's made it easier. And then the just the stuff, right? And Beth and I talk about this sometimes. When we came to Florence, there was like three or four places to eat. Yeah. You know, I mean Red Bone Alley was here when we came, and Percy and Willie's, and there was a place called uh PJ's or something like that. Yeah, PA's PAs was PA's PA's back in the day. Yeah, um, then a couple other places, right? Yeah, that was about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh and then um you just started seeing the growth and the development, and now there's a lot of places to eat. Still can't get anywhere on Friday night, but you gotta wait. But a lot of choices and a lot of growth and a lot of cool stuff to do. And, you know, um, I feel like opportunities for kids, you know, the museum wasn't here when when we moved here, the Florence Little Theater wasn't here, it was here, but it was you know out on casual. That's new. The library was built since we've been here. There's so much development and so many things that have happened, and we utilize all of those things. My daughter, Carl Elizabeth, she'll turn nine this month, goes to the library all the time. That's awesome. And uh, and you know, we take part in things at the uh Florence Little Theater, but we go to the museum. We just at the museum a couple weeks ago walking through uh exhibits there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I I see so much. And I don't know that I'm the right expert to talk about what else is needed. Um, you know, I I served on downtown economic development and I see some of the businesses that are coming downtown, and um, I'm glad about that. And I it's exciting. Um, but uh yeah, I don't know, I'm a little stumped over what we need because I yeah, there's I think there's a lot more growth to come, too.

SPEAKER_02

I think absolutely we've got the population base growing and we finally got publics coming, and that's gonna bring all kind of new things out that way.

SPEAKER_00

So it's not a myth anymore. No, it's not a myth anymore. We talked about publics for what we see at least 10 moves. Yeah.

Reeves

But I was having coffee with a guy this morning, and we were talking about the next 10, 15, 20 years, and I think some things that Florence Economic Development is doing to have shovel ready sites for manufacturing. We've got a lot, maybe we're overbuilding single family homes right now, but that's going to give us opportunity for more manufacturing to bring in more jobs for these people to live. It's still a low cost of living, respective to the state and country. So I'm with you. There's a lot to be excited about, sure, with Florence.

SPEAKER_02

There's some beautification things that need to happen. Yeah. You know, like your your facility downtown, y'all landscape that it looks great. Yeah, thank you. And that starts changing because that area looked horrible. Yeah. But we need the other businesses around there. We if they could just step up the landscaping and some beautification, yeah, it'd go a long way.

SPEAKER_00

I agree with that. And I think, you know, I don't know uh on a macro level how to make that happen if it's city and county coming together, and but businesses and everybody sort of coming together and chipping in to say, what can I do? What can I what how can we make a difference? And Hope Health wants to be a part of that for sure. I mean, we we we did to put a lot of time and attention into that corner.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And uh

Building Downtown Through City Partnership

SPEAKER_00

how quickly people forget, you know, what it looked like. And and so I, you know, I have to, you know, always try to give uh credit where credit is due and recognition to the people who have helped us because we did not transform that corner on our own. We had the city came in and uh Mayor Wakila at the time uh approached me about we had a a federal grant that was gonna allow us to build an addition onto our building over on Palmetto Street, the one next to KFC.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00

It's gonna be a three-story addition onto the front of that building. Imagine that in your head what what that would look like. I don't think it would have been ugly, but it it would have been weird. Yeah, right. We would have would have had no parking um at all, which was we we were sweating it out because the feds funded us for that project. You had to already own the property to apply for the grant. And we were counting on some parking that it became it started to become obvious that we weren't gonna get it, some land related to some parking. So anyway, mayor, the mayor comes along and says, What if we move that project over to the corner, the corner where we're at of Urby Street? Okay. And I said, All right, well, what does that look like? And you know, they started talking about a donation of the land to us, and Dr. Bruce and Lee Foundation had put considerable amount of money into cleaning up that property. Wow. Y'all grew up here? Did y'all is that where the plane you remember the airplane and these old abandoned warehouses were there? It was a dump. We people called it a dump, you know, recycling dump. But uh, they had spent uh millions cleaning it up, and uh, and the city wanted to do something there, and there were lots of different thoughts about what they were gonna do. Well, they landed on us, and we're grateful for that. They donated the the money. And at that time, Hope Health was really on the rise. We were having we were having great success. Our revenues were just multiplying every year, and so it allowed us to build that beautiful building. Phase two, which was if you're facing the building, the wing on the left uh was going to be five years down the road. And within before we could get phase one finished, we were outgrown and needed to build phase two. Wow. And actually, if you look at the footprint of that building, you'll see that phase two on the left is is twice as deep. Like you can't tell from the front of the building, they look the same. But if you count the window panes, it goes one window pane more on the left, and then it's twice as deep. So that wing is probably two or two and a half times the size that it was intended to be because of our rapid growth at that time, which I just, you know, I feel like a blessing from God that he allowed us to have that growth and that it came at that time. But and ultimately, that really allowed just just this beautiful building. Landscaping was important to us from the very beginning because we said, hey, we owe it to the city and the county and the folks that live in this community to make this building not only to not only build a nice building, but to have beautiful grounds. And we've continued to try to be committed to that. And that railroad that comes along the back side, yeah, that part came later where we said, where we said that wasn't really our property, but we negotiated a deal to be able to get it so that we could clean it up.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, it looks good.

SPEAKER_00

And so, and so it's just uh it's our contribution, but but what else do we need to do, right? We want to continue continue to contribute and do our part to beautification.

SPEAKER_02

That was visionary leadership at the city that helped put that in place with the right, and we need more of that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah.

Reeves

Well, but it's encouraging to hear that has happened and and and to see the fruit of it. And I think that leadership still exists. Yeah, it does, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And so we've got some good folks. In fact, uh the we we're in conversations with the city about some more projects similar to that. Good. And I won't get too much in the details of that, but there there is some there's some thought, thought around what we can do. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

22 Sites And Regional Health Access

SPEAKER_00

In the meantime, let me just say this too, uh, you know, kind of going back a little bit to Hopel's Impact, we have 22 sites across the state where people get health care. And so what we've done on Erby Street, and you mentioned our our play site at Pine Needles, we've got the the pediatric practice on Second Loop, we've got the specialty practice on Palmetto, but we're we're in Lake City, we're in Manning, we're in King Street, we're in Orangeburg, we have uh we're in Hemingway. I didn't know that. Um we have we have 22 service sites where people receive care. And uh we're we're proud of all of that, you know. Um, you know, we're here to talk about Florence, but I love what we've done in Manning. We've got a huge facility there. There were two buildings, and we we connected them with like a third building to turn it into one large facility. And uh we're you know, we're just doing really great things in Manning, South Carolina, but in King Street too, and all over the place.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. You know, Manning, people for you don't think about Manning is somewhat a part of our community too. There's a lot of people from Manning that come to Florence for healthcare needs and to shop and church. I've got people at my church from Manning.

SPEAKER_00

Go to movies, all types of things.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So there's you know, when you start talking about Florence and the PD and then that, it's a pretty big area that funnels back into Florence.

SPEAKER_00

It's less than an hour to get to Manning. Yeah, it's like 45 minutes, depending on which side of Florence you live on. And and uh people don't I don't know that it's technically considered the PD. I don't think it is, uh uh, but it's in it's maybe outside the PD reaching.

SPEAKER_02

The cloud's there now, too. Yep. So we've kind of grown into that town.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's interesting.

Youth Impact And Boys And Girls Club

Reeves

Before we let you go, yeah, I want to acknowledge and uh just in congratulate you. You are the boys and girls club's 2026 champion for youth.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

You coming to the dinner.

Reeves

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're planning to come. And um just congratulations. And I think that award acknowledges the impact that you and the people who you lead every day um have done for the boys and girls in our area. So well done.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for that, Reeves. I appreciate it. I'm humbled by it. If you look at the list of past recipients, it's a like a wall of fame. And I'm like, man, I don't know if I belong on that list. A lot of great folks have received that award over the years, and so I was humbled by it and I'm honored by it. And I would say to anybody listening, uh, there aren't many organizations that in in the PD that I would promote over the Boys and Girls Club. And that's saying a lot because we we partner with so many not-for-profits and we and we give to them, uh, and and particularly the ones who we work, we we serve the same clientele. Uh, but the boys and girls club, Neil Zimmerman, does an excellent job out there, and they're making a real difference in the lives of young people. There are kids that go there that um have parents like we had that were raised like I was raised and have good, strong male role models, fathers and so forth. Uh, so I don't want to, you know, purport that everybody out there didn't have a dad, right? Strong families uh whose kids participate in the boys and girls club, but there are also a lot of kids we know that didn't have the that advantage. Yes they didn't have some of the things that you and I grew up. There's a lot of right, yeah, a lot. Right.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And they're there to fill that gap. That's awesome. Right. And so I would say please, if you're listening to this, uh support Boys and Girls Club. Write them a check, give what you can do to them.

Reeves

Yeah, that is incredible. And that's something, Robert, you and I've talked about till, you know, and talking about the dynamics in her class and even some of the teachers that she your daughters had, and them kind of coming to you privately and saying, Hey, can you help that this kid doesn't have this? This kid doesn't have a lot of need out there. So to know the boys the boys and girls club is doing that, yeah, absolutely. And that's encouraging to hear.

SPEAKER_02

I think a lot of people are so get a little jaded now because you're like, okay, I don't know which organization's actually making the impact like they're supposed to. Yeah, but hearing you say the boys and girls club is the real deal goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

And that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we thank you for all you do in the community.

SPEAKER_00

Appreciate it, guys. Um I'm honored to serve.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, thank you. Any way we can help you, let us know.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, we'll do that. Yeah. Thanks.