PRESS RELEASE
South Carolina Office of the Governor
David M. Beasley - Governor
For Immediate Release:  July 15, 1998
Contact:  Gary Karr (803) 734-9840
 
  GOVERNOR PRAISES RURAL HEALTH CARE APPROACH

   (Denmark) -- Governor David M. Beasley today praised the "grass roots, community-driven" approach in the new South Carolina Rural Health Regional Office, which he formally opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
 "Under one roof now are five different organizations, and their whole reason for being is to make health care more accessible and more affordable for South Carolina's small towns," the Governor said.
 In addition to a regional office for the South Carolina State Office of Rural Health, the new facility will house Low Country Healthy Start, the Low Country Health Care System Network, the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center, and Denmark's Community Development Center.
 The center will primarily serve Bamberg, Allendale, Hampton and Orangeburg counties.
 The new facility reflects the Governor's goal to give communities and families the knowledge they need to be healthier. South Carolina is closer to realizing that goal, as its infant mortality rates drop faster than most other states and its immunization rate is among the highest in the nation.
 The Governor's Partners for Healthy Children program, begun last year, has enrolled 47,000 children from low-income families. The children now have access to regular checkups and unlimited prescriptions from a family doctor they know.
 "Together, we've made some monumental progress in health care, and I may be prouder of those accomplishments than any other as governor," the Governor said today. "But we can't proclaim victory yet, not when there are still groups who are struggling. We know that poor, rural, minority communities still aren't seeing the same progress as the rest of the state. And that's why we're here today."
 The Governor praised those involved in increasing access to health care in rural areas, especially Dr. Monnie Singleton, a national leader in health care. Dr. Singleton serves on the Governor's Health Advisory Committee, which is working to erase the disparities in health care.