Beverly Withrow retiring from Home, Health Hospice
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on May 3, 2004 1:55 PM
Home Health and Hospice Care President Beverly Withrow has announced she is retiring from the nonprofit organization she helped build 23 years ago.
"I started as a volunteer with 3HC when it began in Mount Olive in 1981, and I believe it's a good time for me to step down and let new leadership build on what we've done," Ms. Withrow said.
Ms. Withrow, 66, saw the company grow from three employees to its current payroll of over 750 employees. She credits Dr. Robert Shackelford and Dr. Hervy Kornegay, both of Mount Olive, for having the vision to start the company.
"In many ways, the history of 3HC serves as a case study for the changes and growth of home health care not only in North Carolina but the nation," she said.
After physicians stopped making house calls and extended hospital stays became more expensive, she said, home health care filled a medical niche.
Ms. Withrow presided over rapid growth in the company during the 1980s when it began offering a wide range of skilled nursing services, first in Mount Olive, then Kinston, Goldsboro, Clinton, and other cities.
She said she is especially proud of the nonprofit organization's Kitty Askins Hospice Center, which opened in 1995 and was named after one of her early co-workers who urged 3HC to offer such services before she died.
She also started the company's "Wings! Camp" for children who lose parents or relatives and the company's association with the Angel Foundation that fulfills wishes for dying patients.
Today, 3HC has offices in nine cities and serves an estimated 2,000 patients on any given day. The nonprofit is one of the state's largest home health care companies.
Ms. Withrow said that she would take some time off, although she has been asked to do consulting work in the industry. She and her husband, the Rev. Larry Withrow, live in Princeton and have two children.