One of the guiding forces behind the formation of the Moore Regional Hospital Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pinehurst Surgical Clinic was Dr. Michael T. Pishko. Dr. Pishko didn't arrive a moment too soon when he joined Dr. Clement Monroe, the hospital's founding physician, in 1936.
Thus, began the legendary career of one of the hospital's most beloved physicians, one who dedicated his life to caring for the people of Moore County. With his wife, Betty, he left a legacy to FirstHealth that continues to this day.
The first expansion of Moore County Hospital, as it was called back then, had increased bed capacity to 80. Within three years of his arrival, Dr. Pishko was doing it all- emergency room duty, general medicine, pediatrics and surgery. When Dr. Monroe saw that Dr. Pishko was leaning toward obstetrics and gynecology, he pushed him toward that badly needed specialty.
Dr. Pishko attended thousands of births. He was often at the hospital, working 12 to 14 hours, sometimes more. As the hospital's only OB/ GYN for a decade, he once delivered 100 babies in one month.
In 1946, 35-year-old Dr. Pishko made another commitment when he married Betty Delaney. The couple never had children of their own, so the hospital and the community became their extended family. The hospital Auxiliary was one of the first ways the couple supported the hospital with their generous charitable giving. For the next four decades, the Pishkos made significant financial contributions to the hospital as Scroll and Legacy Circle members of The Foundation of FirstHealth.
"Betty was brilliant in her own right and astute in planning their estates," says Kathy Stockham, President of the Foundation. She established a charitable remainder trust naming the Foundation as a beneficiary. After the Pishkos' deaths, The Elizabeth Ann Pishko Fund would continue to provide for the future health care needs of the community to which Dr. Pishko had devoted his life.
In 1980, the doctor who delivered more than 12,000 babies in Moore County finally retired after practicing medicine for almost 50 years. In recognition of his visionary leadership, Moore Regional Hospital dedicated the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which he led for more than three decades, in his honor. Dr. Pishko continued to remain active in the community after Betty's death in 1986. In September 1999, at age 90, he also passed away.
In June 2016, almost 30 years to the day after Betty's death, The Foundation of FirstHealth was notified that an additional payment from her estate would be forthcoming from leased mineral rights from a property in Ohio. Kathy Stockham says, "When we learned there would be an additional disbursement of almost $600,000 from the estate, we knew Dr. Pishko would want these funds to be used to continue supporting educational opportunities for our physicians and nurses-and what better way than to help fund their training for the new Epic information technology system."
Between April 1, 2017 and Epic 'Go-Live' on July 1, 2017, FirstHealth entered the fourth phase of a two-year process to design, test, train and implement the Epic system throughout FirstHealth. In the final eight weeks, 500 physicians, 2,900 nurses and clinical staff, and 1,145 non-clinical support staff would be trained at a cost of $1.5 million. The Pishkos' gift helped pay for the additional salaries to cover personnel who took over patient care while core staff received training, as well as for the Epic "Super Users" who provide "elbow-to-elbow" support to their co-workers.
With the continued partnership of the community and its support of The Foundation of FirstHealth, FirstHealth of the Carolinas will continue to go exceed expectations and provide best-in-class care for our community.
To learn more about planned giving opportunities such as bequests and Charitable Remainder Trusts through The Foundation of FirstHealth, please call our office at (910) 695-7500.
