Note:  The Governor sometimes deviates from text.
 

Dr. O'Bryan and members of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Edwards, honored guests, distinguished faculty, families and members of the 1998 graduating class of the  Medical University of South Carolina.
I consider it a tremendous honor to address this class of 1998.
There's a good chance my accident-prone family...with all our motorcycle-crashing and broken limbs...will have to call on your services one of these days!
And now that there's another Beasley on the way " my wife, Mary Wood is due with our fourth child in December" you better multiply those odds by six!
But as much as our family may need you, South Carolina needs you more.
South Carolinians need strong, compassionate, ethical men and women to care for their children, tend to their dying, heal their sick, cure their disease.
Such is the mission you've dedicated yourself to all these long years of study: to become exemplary leaders and caregivers in the field of medicine.
So congratulations.  Today you can finally wear that banner proudly.  This may rightfully be the proudest moment of your life.
But this is also just the beginning.  Ahead of you awaits a succession of awesome moments that will make this one pale in comparison.
Along this journey in medicine, some of you will restore strength to the young, comfort the elderly, give back smiles and ease suffering.
Some of you will feel a heartbeat fade on your surgical table, only to help it beat strong again.
Some of you will bring new life into the world.  And some of you will be there as life ends.
One day, the enormity of life and death may come to rest in your hands.  And that is truly one of life's most noble callings.
Thankfully, strong men and women like you have been heeding that call here for generations.  About 175 years' worth of doctors, nurses, dentists, researchers, therapists, and administrators have gotten their start from these grounds.
But this Class of 1998 will face challenges that MUSCÌs first students could never have even imagined...in their worst nightmares or their fondest dreams.
You are entering the field of medicine at probably the most complex time in the history of health care delivery.
" Technology is changing by the second...and it's making the unbelievable " like surgery performed from thousands of miles away " just another day at the office.
" Managed care, of course, has absolutely transformed the medical marketplace...and radically changed how you function in it.
Now we've got everything from HMOs to PPOs...MSOs to IPAs.  Somewhere soon we've got to run out of letters!
Health care is big business " there's no way around it.  In fact, it's one of the most important engines in this state's economy...employing 82,000 people and generating more wages than our entire textile industry.
"But most importantly, you're graduating into an age where those who've gone before you have conquered and cured most infectious diseases.
You're left to treat the diseases of our own making...heart disease, cancer, stroke.
That means that you'll be called on to practice a different kind of medicine with a different relationship with your patients...one focusing on prevention and lifestyle.
That's where our public health focus has been throughout this administration.
It's been our mission to promote personal responsibility.  We want to empower families with the knowledge and equipment they need...to do what needs to be done, how it needs to be done.
Not only does that prevention mindset save us money "(we know that for every dollar we spend on immunization, we actually end up saving over $10!)" more importantly, prevention saves families from a lifetime of suffering.
That's why Mary Wood has made women's health her number one priority as First Lady...to educate women on healthy lifestyles that will help them raise their children well and for long years to come.
We've formed grass-roots partnerships and offered incentives to get young mothers to the doctor....and infant mortality has dropped to an all-time low.
We've used innovative tactics to get the word out on the importance of immunization.  And South Carolina went from having one of the lowest immunization  rates in the nation...to one of the highest.
And to make sure children in need have access to good, consistent health care, we created the single largest expansion of Medicaid this state has ever seen.
Through our Partners for Healthy Children initiative, 75,000 more children have access to a medical home. And hard-working families who once couldn't afford medical care for their children can now take them to regular checkups from their own doctor.
But for all our ideas and plans at the state level, improving public health without you is impossible.
" South Carolina needs health care providers who are willing to take on these new Medicaid children.
We need folks willing to work in primary and preventative care...and go into the small towns and rural communities where the needs are greatest.
You probably know that 43 of our 46 counties are considered medically underserved; 38 have been designated by the federal government as Health Professional Shortage Areas.
The world is crying out for the knowledge and healing power youÌve gained...and so are families right in your own backyard.
MUSC has instilled in you a proud tradition...one of excellence, integrity and an enduring commitment to her home state.
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.
I can guarantee you that the challenges will be tremendous, the changes will be fast-paced.  But there's one truth that will never change.
You will forever be the healers, the caregivers, the hand holders, the life sustainers.
And you're blessed to serve in the best medical system in the world...the most advanced, the most head-spinningly progressive.
But graduates, you are not called to be robots operating within that system. You are not meant to be medical machines.
If your job was just about saving lives, there are plenty of medicines and high-tech procedures that can do that without you.  That kind of cold clinicalness requires nothing of our souls.
I challenge you today to become the kind of caregivers who not only save lives, but who change lives...as you commit yourself to the nobler calling of medicine: a life of service.
The Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonides wrote a prayer thatÌs become one of the great ethical lights on the duty of those in medicine.
"I am now about to apply myself to the duties of my profession," he prayed.  "Do not allow thirst for profit, ambition for renown and admiration to interfere, for these are the enemies of truth.  In the sufferer, let me see only the human being."
One of the former presidents of the American Medical Association, Dr. Joseph Boyle, tells a story from his days as a young doctor back in the '50s.
An elderly man had been admitted to the hospital with cancer of the windpipe. He could barely speak or even breath.
Dr. Boyle gathered around the old man's bed with a team of interns, residents and med students.
He started discussing with them, probably in some very clinical terms, the man's diagnosis and the sort of treatment they would offer.
Dr. Boyle was in mid-sentence when he felt a hand reach up and tug on his sleeve. The old man was straining from the bed, and he started pulling Dr. Boyle down close...away from all the eyes staring at him from the bedside.
He held the doctor just close enough so he could whisper in his ear these words...'Please doctor, remember there is a man inside.'
That is your challenge for the journey: to remember the soul inside and to seize every opportunity to heal both the bodies and hearts of your fellow human beings.
South Carolina families desperately need that brand of care...and we thank you for willingly answering that call.
Congratulations and God bless you.