Tangier Island Health Foundation

Decades of Service to Tangier Island Residents - WBOC TV - November 23, 2010

 

Dr. Nichols on NBC Nightly News Making A Difference - October 20, 2010

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Country Doctor Awards

 
In 2006, Dr. Nichols was named Country Doctor of the Year.  This award, sponsored by Staff Care®, recognizes outstanding, continuing contribution to rural healthcare and is presented to a physician who best exemplifies the spirit, skill, and dedication of America's rural medical practitioners.

At the August 29, 2010 grand opening and dedication of the David B., Nichols Health Center on Tangier Island, Dr. Nichols was further honored, and surprised to receive, an additional award, delivered in person by a representative of Staff Care:  Country Doctor of the Decade.  This is the first time Staff Care® has awarded an award for the decade.

Bringing Medical Treatment to Island by Helicopter

   

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Tangier Island, VA: An Island Refuge Remakes Itself

May 16, 2010
Tangier Island, VA: And Island RefugeRemakes Itself

From the air, when the sun hits the Chesapeake Bay just right, the shimmering water seems to dance.  Then a tiny tuft of land appears, and as Dr. David Nichols... 

- Parade Magazine, The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Doctor Cares for Tangier Island - WAVY.com - January 1, 2010

Doctor cares for Tangier Island: wavy.com

Text version

DR COPTR: It's Thursday, and the doctor has flown in - AOPA Online

 
AOPA Pilot: The Voice of General Aviation

September 2009

By Alyssa J. Miller

 

 

Residents of Tangier Island don’t need a written schedule to know when the doctor is available.  They know it by heart.  Dr. David Nichols has been flying to the remote Chesapeake Bay island every Thursday for 30 years to provide….

 

To read full text of article click here:

Dr COPTR: It's Thursday, and the doctor has flown in

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Site Preparation Begins . . .

With the demolition in May of the old house occupying the site of their modern health facility, islanders celebrated its reality with photos like this one taken by clinic receptionist Cindy Parks.

Virginia General Assembly Commending David B. Nichols, MD

   

House Joint Resolution No. 760 and Senate Joint Resolution 426

Sponsored by Virginia Delegates Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr. from the 100th District and Robert J. Wittman from the 99th District and Virginia Senator Nick Rerras from District 6, a joint resolution was introduced commending Dr. David B. Nichols for his contributions to Lancaster County, Tangier Island and the Commonwealth.

Dr. David B. Nichols on ABC World News

Dr. David B. Nichols has been flying to Virginia's Tangier Island once a week for 28 years to care for the 600+ isolated residents. After being nominated for his efforts by a local resident, Dr. Nichols was named Country Doctor of the Year for 2006. This is a national award sponsored by Staff Care, a physician staffing firm.  Dr. Nichols was selected as ABC News Person of the Week for the week of January 19, 2007.

ABC News: Person of the Week: Dr Nichols' named Country Doctor of the Year 2006 - January 19, 2007

 

Country Doctor of the Year Nomination

September 25, 2006

 

Dear Nominating Committee,

 

It’s a good thing Dr. David Nichols knows how to fly – some of his most beloved patients live on an isolated island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, an hour and a half by ferry from Virginia and shores.

 

For 27 years, Dr. Nichols has been piloting his own plane, and more recently, his helicopter, to the island every week to take care of people who haven’t always had a doctor to count on. When the weather is too risky for flight, he hires a boat and travels 20-plus miles to Reedville plus another 17 miles across rough waters to care for the people who depend on him.

 

Dr. Nichols first visited Tangier with his father while he was still in medical school. He was enchanted by the island and its people, with their deep family ties, stoic self-sufficiency, and Elizabethan English accents preserved through centuries of isolation. Seeing the need for better health care, Dr. Nichols promised himself that he would one day try to help. In the spring of 1979, just a few months after setting up his new family practice in White Stone, Virginia (a small town near the Bay), Dr. Nichols made good on his pledge.

 

Tangier’s residents were skeptical at first, believing he would only be able to visit intermittently and then quit as others had done in the past. But he promised he would be back every Thursday, come rain, shine, or snow, and that’s what he’s done. In addition to every Thursday, he also transports a physician’s assistant every other Monday in the helicopter.

 

Most of the people on Tangier make their living from the water, which can be difficult, dangerous work. Times are hard, and getting harder, as pollution and restrictions on fishing and crabbing squeeze away income.

 

Dr. Nichols’ island patients have roughly three times the medical problems as those at his White Stone practice, with unusually high levels of heart disease and diabetes. In fact, a genetic disorder, called Tangier Disease, was discovered on the island in 1961. It affects the protein that helps remove excess cholesterol from cells, so cholesterol builds up in organs and creates serious problems like coronary artery disease.

 

Forty-one percent of the 700 residents are 62 or older, the median household income is just over $26,000, and 70 percent of the population doesn’t own a vehicle.

 

Dr. Nichols has had a great influence on many people on the island, including me and my family, who, along with the majority of the other islanders, have lived on the island for generations. He gave my daughter the opportunity to volunteer at the clinic, and she is now a licensed practical nurse. His example and encouragement inspired me, at age 39, to go back to school five years ago to get my physician’s assistant license. When I graduate this December, I’ll be able to provide the first full-time medical presence on the island in many years.

 

My father, also born and raised here, gave the first donation to build our health clinic back in the late 1950s. Now, Dr. Nichols and other Tangier supporters are working to raise money to build and outfit a modern clinic to replace the old, poorly equipped one. The clinic needs more diagnostic equipment, expanded emergency and preventative services, and a lab that can screen for diseases. One of the state’s top consulting firms (McGuire Woods Consulting) is providing pro-bono services to shepherd a funding bill through the Virginia General Assembly to help us build the new clinic, and we have every reason to believe we’ll be successful. 

 

Dr. Nichols has become part of our big Tangier family. He knows everyone by name, and laughs with us in the good times and cries with us in the bad. He has sacrificed his time and on occasion risked his life to get here when people are sick. As he has expanded his practice to include other doctors and nurses, he has brought them over as well, and they, too, have made an important contribution.

 

Dr. Nichols is gentle and thoughtful and always asks the right questions, trying to understand how best to help his patients. He sincerely cares about our well-being – not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.

 

As a testimony to how dearly loved Dr. Nichols is here, I’ve enclosed a notebook with a copy of the heartfelt thanks given to him seven years ago on his 20^th anniversary serving the island.

 

On behalf on Tangier’s grateful townspeople and myself, I nominate Dr. Nichols for Country of the Year. Thank you for considering Dr. Nichols’ as a most worthy and deserving recipient of this honor.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

E. Inez Pruitt

Early Press

September 25, 2008

A Closer Look

When Charlotte Hayman called me from Reedville and described the modern-day treasure hunt called “geocaching,” I thought she was nuts. But now that I’ve spent a morning playing the game with Charlotte and her husband, Sonny, I can see why they’re pumped. (article no longer available online)

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- The Rapphannock Record Online

January 16, 2008

‘Red Hats’ Want to Help Build Clinic on Tangier Island

The Red Hot Granny's in Newport News are calling on all fellow Red Hat Society members in Hampton Roads to pony up $10 to help build a modern medical clinic on Tangier Island, a isolated community on a tiny spit of land in the Chesapeake Bay.

- The Daily Press

January 14, 2008

Land Bought for Tangier Clinic

Efforts to replace the outdated clinic on Tangier Island moved a step closet to reality today with the announcement that organizers have bought land for the new clinic.

-Richmond Times-Dispatch InRich.com

January 14, 2008

Tangier Clinic Moves Forward

Organizers of a much-needed island medical center reached their first milestone by buying land for the clinic with the help of a $25,000 private grant they announced today. The grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in addition to a portion of $300,000 in state funds the General Assembly earmarked last year enabled the Tangier Island Health Foundation to make the purchase.

-Richmond Times-Dispatch InRich.com

December 26, 2007

Islanders Hope for Modern Clinic

Claudine Eskridge walked into Tangier Island's Gladstone Memorial Medical Center, hoping to walk out free of pain and knowing why her right knee was swollen and her feet throbbed.

- The Daily Press

November 22, 2007

Rotary Welcomes Tangier Advocates: The Rotary Club of West Point Hopes to Join in the Efforts to Serve Tangier Island

The Rotary Club of West Point welcomed David B. Nichols and James N. Carter, Jr. as speakers at their Nov. 8 meeting. Nichols has been flying to Virginia's Tangier Island once a week for 27 years to care for more than 600 isolated residents. Carter is the Chairman of the Tangier Island Health Foundation.

- RedOrbit.com

January 19, 2007

David Nichols - Doctor Makes Weekly Helicopter Housecall to Island in Need of Help

Twenty-seven years ago, Dr. David Nichols made a promise after he visited the 600 residents of tiny, isolated Tangier Island, just off the coast of Virginia. "I promised them that I would continue to come, and not just come for a year or two as other people have and then leave the patients stranded," Nichols said.

- ABC News Person of the Week

January 2, 2007

Doctor Takes Job to New Heights

The license plate on David Nichols' helicopter reads "DR COPTR."  For 27 years, the physician has flown to an isolated island population in the Chesapeake Bay each week to provide care. This fall, his efforts earned him the 2006 Country Doctor of the Year Award from the organization Staff Care.

-USA Today

December 2006

Healing Tangier

The isolated islanders have medical needs like everyone else. But with only one rundown clinic and weekly visits from Dr. David Nichols, it’s a struggle to care for them. Could help be on the way?

-Chesapeake Life Magazine

December 11, 2006

Tangier Doctor: "This is My Mission"

It’s not easy to earn the trust of the Tangiermen who are often skeptical of outsiders. But Canadian native Dr. David Nichols has become like a celebrity in these parts because he’s kept a promise to provide desperately needed medical care to isolated, rural islanders who would otherwise put their medical needs aside until it was absolutely necessary to be flown or boated to the mainland. (article no longer available online)

- The Daily Times

December 5, 2006

By Plane or Boat, Doctor Makes His Rounds

On a sight seeing trip to Tangier Island, Dr. David Nichols saw a medical mission. A pilot, he started flying in on Thursdays, his day off, and worked in the clinic. At the time, folks thought they had seen his kind before. Well-meaning, but...

- The Virginia Pilot

December 5, 2006

Doctor’s Soaring Loyalty Rewarded

David Nichols flew an airplane every week to practice medicine on Tangier Island until he bought a helicopter to make the commute across the Chesapeake Bay. Now, 27 years after flying into the hearts of island residents, he's been named Country Doctor of the Year for 2006. (article no longer available online)

-Richmond Times Dispatch

July 28, 2006

The Doctor Who Watches Over an Island

It first appears as a smear on the horizon, barely visible through the helicopter's windshield on the hazy expanse of the Chesapeake Bay. Soon an outline emerges, then houses, a church, white picket fences and a weedy, forlorn airstrip.

-The Washington Post

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