(Columbia) Governor David M. Beasley told a new crop of South Carolina doctors that they should stay in South Carolina because their state needed the "knowledge and healing power" they have learned.
"It is my hope that when you leave here for your chosen assignments, you'll find your way back and share your talents with a state that needs you," Governor Beasley told Medical University of South Carolina graduates.
Of South Carolina's 46 counties, 43 are considered medically underserved; 38 have been designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas.
The Governor, who received an honorary doctorate from the university, urged the graduates to "become the kind of caregivers who not only save lives, but who change lives ... as you commit yourselves to the nobler calling for medicine: a life of service."
Governor Beasley also advised the graduates to focus on health care prevention. "We want to empower families with the knowledge and the equipment they need ... to do what needs to be done, how it needs to be done," the Governor said.
During Governor Beasley's first term, South Carolina has gone from having one of the lowest immunization rates in the nation to one of the highest. And the Governor, joined by a bipartisan group of legislators, created Partners for Healthy Children, which gives 75,000 more children access to a medical home.
"But for all our ideas and plans at the state level, improving public health without you is impossible," Governor Beasley said.
So the Governor asked the graduates to consider staying in South Carolina. "The world is crying out for the knowledge and healing power you've gained, and so are families right in your own backyard," Governor Beasley said.