New role for Christ School alumnus, former Board of Trustees member
According to Rick Toomey ’73, one of the reasons he became a candidate for the executive director position of DEHEC was that he failed at retirement, which began in 2016, when he stepped down from being CEO of Beaufort (S.C.) Memorial Hospital. Before that he worked in healthcare administration, primarily in eastern North Carolina. During his short-lived retirement, Toomey was serving on DEHEC’s board after being appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster. Seven months later, when the search began for a new director, he threw his name in the hat. Despite the fact that South Carolina conducted a nation-wide search, in the end the state chose one of its own – Toomey grew up in Greenville. He was nominated in January and confirmed in March. It takes a certain kind of person to oversee such an all-encompassing task force. DEHEC’s responsibilities include issuing birth certificates, licenses for hospital expansions and environmental permits, as well as monitoring air and water quality.
Question: What was it about this position that pulled you out of retirement?
Answer: I looked at it as an opportunity to make a difference in my own state. I was already acquainted with DEHEC from the healthcare side as our hospital applied for certificates for projects and I certainly saw them when it was time to inspect our radiology equipment or our food services. And then, when I served on DEHEC’s board, I saw another side of the agency and it just intrigued me.
Question: In what ways has your previous experience prepared you for this new role?
Answer: In one sense we, just like hospitals, have to trust your experts, your staff who have the expertise in the different areas. I think management skills translate and transfer from one industry to the other. It's managing people, it's setting a vision, and encourage employees to be efficient, effective, and focused on customer relations. I'm a very people-oriented person. I think I make people feel comfortable. I've already hosted many town hall meetings with employees. I think I'm approachable, I make people feel at ease, and I connect with the employees.
Question: What challenges do you face?
Answer: The challenge is the diversity of the mission. We have challenges occasionally with TB and mumps outbreaks, and we have to focus on the public health aspect of that to do the surveillance and make sure that isolation protocols are in place to make sure infectious diseases do not spread. The other challenge is just part of state government. We depend upon the House and the Senate for our budget. We have a great reputation with the Senate and the House, and part of that is we have a great legislative team that provides them information. We enforce or carry out the regulations and the laws. We do not make recommendations, so we are an agency that follows the direction as defined by us by the state.
Question: How do you balance your goals for the DEHEC with its environmental mission?
Answer: Our vision is healthy people living in healthy communities. We are one of three states that combine public health and the environment regulatory aspects. And there’s synergy in that; being able to help people involves their public health, but the environment also impacts people's healthy lifestyle and healthy communities. Public health certainly has an impact on that as well as the environmental aspects and regulation. We have an ability to address global concerns. The other part of the balancing act is when you think of recruitment of new businesses to the state. There is a need to recruit businesses to provide jobs and opportunities for the citizens, but there's also an issue of making sure that the environment is protected as you do that recruitment, so that's all within our mission. As we process permits for new companies coming in, we make sure that we are not just looking at the industry as a means in itself. The industry has to also be good stewards of the environment. That's part of the reason that so many people want to come to South Carolina. It's not just because of the location and the workforce, but it's because of the environment and it's a wonderful balancing act that the agency has to do as we continue to grow.
Question: What memories do you have of Christ School and how did it impact your career?
Answer: Christ School was such a great experience. I was there for five years. My earliest memories are of traveling from Greenville up to Christ School to watch my brother, Bob ’64, play football and soccer. When my time came around there was no doubt where I was going to go. A couple of key memories include Coach Sewell and baseball and the fun that we had, well, in all sports, and the friendships that we developed, all of which are some of the really unique things. One last story: I was dead set to go to UNC-Chapel Hill – that was where most people went from CS in those days, or Sewanee. My History teacher, Mr. Bird, and my English teacher, Tex Woods, sat down with me and said you really should look at Duke. I really hadn’t thought about that, but I trusted them and applied to Duke on their recommendation. I didn't even visit Duke but decided to go there instead of Chapel Hill. I was offered a couple of baseball scholarships, but I walked on at Duke and it was phenomenal, I still enjoy going over to Chapel Hill to this day – my wife and daughter are Chapel Hill graduates – and I root for both schools, but I have, without a doubt, a dark blue aura around me. It was like Robert Frost’s “path less traveled,” I took a different path and I think that has made a difference in my life.