Southport Magazine

What: Dosher Foundation Gala
When: Saturday, April 20th
6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Where: St. James Community Center
4136 Southport-Supply Rd., St. James
Cost: $100/person; reservations required
Info: (910) 457-3900 • www.dosher.org

The oldest continuously operating hospital in America is the Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. It began as a six-bed infirmary in 1736. Here in Brunswick County, by the 1920s there were only two doctors to serve a population of about 15,000 people. One of these men was Dr. Julius Arthur Dosher.

Born in Southport in 1838, Dr. Dosher graduated from the Maryland College of Pharmacy in 1900 and then the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1903. During World War I, Dr. Dosher served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France, where he treated many soldiers for the effects of mustard gas.

Returning to Southport, he was known for practicing medicine on the streets, from fish houses to the Whittlers Bench, or going as far as performing surgeries on his own kitchen table.

“Dr. J. Arthur Dosher was very instrumental in the development of healthcare in Brunswick County in the early 1900s,” Kirk Singer, Executive Director of the Dosher Memorial Hospital Foundation, tells. “He was a surgeon with a real passion for the establishment of the county’s first hospital.”

In 1924, industrialist James B. Duke founded the Duke Endowment which provides funds to improve access to healthcare in rural areas across the Carolinas. The Endowment would provide $15,000 toward the construction of a hospital in Brunswick County, something the organization’s survey found was a dire need. However, it would cost $30,000 to build.

“Through Dr. Dosher’s perseverance, funding was secured and Brunswick County Hospital was built and opened its doors to the community in June of 1930,” Singer declares.

Dr. Dosher kept the hospital afloat despite weak finances, as Brunswick County residents faced their own economic troubles, and the Great Depression. The surgeon consistently donated his services, equipment and time.

When he passed away in 1939, the hospital’s name was changed in his honor. To this day, Dosher Memorial Hospital is a non-profit public community access facility operating within the Smithville Township—which includes Southport, Caswell Beach, Oak Island, Bald Head Island, and the Players Club in St. James.

Still, Dosher Memorial Hospital has seen its fair share of financial struggles. Yet the extreme need for a local hospital, and all that Dr. Dosher and others gave to see it succeed, keeps citizens rallying around the hospital throughout time. In World War II, its doors remained open thanks to government contracts to serve military personnel stationed at Fort Caswell. In the ‘50s, box lunches were sold and community dances were organized to raise $10,000 to match funds from the Duke Endowment.

In 1962, then-mayor of Southport, Eugene B. Tomlinson, gathered a gift of $5,000 to alleviate urgent expenses within $40,000 of debt. Five years later, then-hospital administrator W.F. Cuprit applied for grants and solicited foundations; by 1971 over $70,000 was spent on improving every department of the hospital. As well, many people have volunteered their time at Dosher Memorial Hospital since its inception.

In current times our community also relies on the Dosher Memorial Hospital Foundation, a not-for-profit organization established in March 2010. “It has taken on the mission of raising and allocating philanthropic funds for the enhancement of healthcare in southeastern Brunswick County through the services of Dosher Memorial Hospital,” Singer describes. “Foundation funds can be utilized for the purpose of enhancing patient care, health care research, providing health-related education, and purchasing clinical equipment and facilities.”

Through past funds raised, the foundation has greatly impacted the quality of care in our area. “One of the first projects undertaken by the foundation was the purchase of a badly needed blood culture analyzer for Dosher’s Laboratory at a cost of $33,000,” Singer says.

“Last year, the foundation sponsored a Community Health Fair for [regional] families,” he continues. “Free and low-cost health screenings and a variety of health information were made available at Dosher Hospital. Most recently, foundation funds were used to purchase costly compression bandages for Lymphedema patients, served by the hospital’s Occupational Therapy department, who otherwise could not afford them. As the foundation grows, we look forward to other opportunities for us to provide funds for the enhancement of healthcare for our community.”

On April 20th the foundation will host its third gala fund-raiser, a black-tie optional affair, at St. James Community Center. “The gala is an incredible experience for all who attend,” Singer promises.

The magic will begin with the red carpet to the valet parking service, and it will continue with elegant decorations, an ice sculpture, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres catered by Mr. P’s Bistro. Music will be offered by the Andrew Thielen Big Band, purveyors of everything from swing and Motown to today’s popular songs. “The band is made up of accomplished big-band musicians,” Singer assures, “and Andrew is a great showman.”

“This year’s Dosher Foundation Gala will celebrate what would have been Dr. Dosher’s 135th birthday,” Singer affirms. “It will be a time to honor the man who built the hospital and celebrate the many and varied healthcare services provided by Dosher Memorial Hospital today.”

Reservations are $100 per person, and varying sponsorships are available. Visit www.dosher.org for registration details.