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Tuomey CEO: Settlement is near BY JOE KEPLER joe@theitem.com (803) 774-1225 Tuomey Healthcare System President and CEO Michael Schwartz addressed community concerns about the hospital’s ongoing federal lawsuit Tuesday morning, speaking with citizens at an open meeting held by the Sumter Vision in Progress organization at James E. Clyburn Intermodal Transportation Center. Along
Streets added to paving project
with highlighting the success of new programs that have helped the hospital grow, Schwartz expressed optimism that the looming lawsuit settlement will be agreed upon within the next year. SCHWARTZ “We are in negotiations with the Department of Justice, and the one thing I can say with pretty
good certainty is that it probably will come to an end in 2015, hopefully in 2014,” Schwartz said of the settlement. Though compensation negotiations continue daily, the next major step in the process will take place Oct. 31. On that day, the hospital’s case will be heard in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia, where representatives of the hospital will present the case. A renegotiated settlement before the
court date is Schwartz’s ultimate goal. “We are hoping to settle, and there is a possibility we will,” he said about a possible resolution before the October appeal. “We are doing everything we can.” The $237 million judgment leveled against Tuomey in 2013 was acknowledged by Schwartz as “impossible” to pay out, but a renegotiated amount is being discussed, as the hospital balances the lawsuit while trying
to bring new programs to benefit the community. “We are coming to a number, and we have to be very careful with this number. It’s like all of you: You’re putting your kid through school, you’re buying a car, your washing machine just broke, you have to pay your mortgage,” Schwartz explained. “You know you can only afford to pay so much. We’ve had
SEE TUOMEY, PAGE A8
Doctors ‘had a really good run’
BY JOE KEPLER joe@theitem.com (803) 774-1225 Sumter City Council gave its final reading to a pair of ordinances Tuesday night at its first meeting of the month and announced minor changes not only to the street paving and resurfacing plan that was initially discussed at the Aug. 21 meeting, but also to the Sumter 2030 Comprehensive Plan. Council unanimously passed an ordinance finalizing a change to zoning rules that would allow for a business planning to offer massage therapy services to move into the former Rascal’s restaurant at 1075-1077 Alice Drive. Massage parlors and spa services were initially forbidden on the list of permitted uses. In a separate ordinance passed Tuesday, council also approved a change to the zoning of a portion of the Sumter School District Administration property at 1345 Wilson Hall Road to allow for the construction of a 250-foot cellphone tower behind the administration building that would boost signal strength in the area. The rezoning also passed council unanimously, moving it from a residential-15 zone to a light industrial-warehouse zone to allow for the addition. A first reading was given to new plans for the paving and resurfacing of state streets, with the addition of four new streets that were not first accounted for during initial discussions at the Aug. 21 council meeting. The most notable addition was Palmetto Street, a 3,250-foot road that stretches between Wards 2 and 3 and runs perpendicular to South Guignard Drive and South Main Street. Councilwoman Ione Dwyer and Councilman Calvin Hastie, of Wards 2 and 3, respectively, spoke in favor of adding the street to the project at the Aug. 21 meeting. Along with Palmetto Street, three roads from Ward 1 were added to the 14-street list. Sims Avenue, Carl Avenue and Adrena Drive are now also part of resurfacing plans. The revised cost of the state street
SEE COUNCIL, PAGE A8
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Drs. Joseph and Brenda Williams work in the lab at Excelsior Medical Clinic. The couple has been in private practice together in Sumter for 32 years. They plan to retire from private practice and close the office in mid-November.
Longtime physicians will close local practice Nov. 21 BY RAYTEVIA EVANS ray@theitem.com (803) 774-1214
W
hen they originally made the announcement that they would
be retiring from private practice,
‘Even in the belly of poverty, we were honored and privileged to care for them.’ BRENDA WILLIAMS Longtime local doctor
well-known local doctors Joseph and Brenda Williams said people
and decided to go into practice,” Joseph came in and cried, and after many said. The doctors found Sumter’s charm years of having them as patients, and slow pace drew them to start their careers and their family. They opened the longtime doctors cried with the doors of the practice June 1, 1982, them. first locating on Calhoun Street. While moonlighting at Tuomey Hos“We have grown to being accustomed pital, Brenda said she asked a question to being a part of their families,” Bren- that was one of many significant factors in her and Joseph’s decision to da said. start a practice in Sumter. Before making the decision to close “I asked, ‘Do y’all have any black docExcelsior Medical Clinic on North Main tors in town?’” she said. Street, the couple prayed about it and With some encouragement from felasked God to guide them in the next low doctors of color, the Williamses steps of their journey. Married since started to explore the Sumter commuJune 14, 1975, the couple moved from nity, visiting churches and looking at Georgia to Columbia and then, after a the surrounding area — eventually deshort stay in Pittsburgh, to Sumter in ciding it was the perfect place to start 1982. their practice and raise a family. “After going, we changed our minds
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“It was kind of halfway country, halfway city,” Brenda said jokingly. “We didn’t want a big city, and we visited small churches here. We decided we really liked Sumter.” Sumter became their new home, but the physicians kept in mind obstacles that were sure to come up in their private practice endeavors. Although they are graduates of the Medical College of Georgia, they knew they would have some people who would simply refuse to see black doctors. “We grew up in the South, so we knew there would be people who would not come to us because of the color of our skin,” Brenda said. “Some people, black and white, tend to think white doctors know more or are more educated (and that) we don’t know as much. We were cognizant of that, and we took that into consideration. But here, we knew we had a duty, and we have patients of all races.” Overcoming this and other obstacles, Joseph and Brenda have stayed in practice for more than 30 years and have served the community through their profession and their advocacy for the impoverished and disenfranchised — work inspired by their faith and watching their
SEE DOCTORS, PAGE A8
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