ALLENDALE - The Salkehatchie Healthy Communities Collaborative, created in 2004 by the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie to address the health care needs in Allendale County and surrounding communities, has named new board members.

Dean Allen, Reid Boylston, Dr. Ann C. Carmichael, Dee Dee Chewning, Carmen Finch and Ken Hiatt have been elected to its board of directors.

The Collaborative seeks to enhance community wellness through education, prevention and intervention, provide the same health care opportunities to adults and children who are living at or below poverty that other citizens currently enjoy and help these communities become self-sufficient and less dependent on government programs.

Through its working program partners, funders and advisory board members, the Collaborative provides health opportunities in an area with challenges as all struggle against high poverty, a shifting economic base and limited development opportunities.

New board member Dean Allen, a native of Allendale County, currently serves as full partner and chief development officer in World Trade City Orangeburg LLC and is broker-in-charge of World Trade Realty LLC, a subsidiary of World Trade City Orangeburg. Co-owner of Keith Smith Funeral Service in Allendale, Allen has extensive background in real estate and funeral service, and spent many years working as a paralegal. He is a member of the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors and the International Federation of Realtors.

In addition, Allen volunteers for several community service organizations in both Allendale and Charleston.

Board member Reid Boylston is director of nine Reid’s, now supermarkets for Food Lion LLC. He is active in the community, currently serving as senior warden of Holy Apostles and as chairman of the Western Carolina Higher Education Commission-USC Salkehatchie. Boylston has also volunteered for numerous organizations including serving on the executive board of the South Carolina Retail Federation, chairman of the Barnwell County Economic Development Commission, president of the Food Retailers Association of South Carolina, Salkehatchie district chairman of Indians Waters Council of the Boy Scouts of America and as chairman of the South Carolina Diocesan Men’s Conference. He is a member of the Church of the Holy Apostles Episcopal Church in Barnwell. Boyleston and his wife, Louise, have lived in Barnwell for the past 34 years and have three grown children.

A native of Union, Dr. Ann C. Carmichael is dean of the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie. Before serving as dean on the regional campus, a position she took in February 2000, she served the campus for nine years as director of the Salkehatchie campus in Walterboro. Prior to this, Carmichael oversaw the campus’ five-year capital campaign in her role as development officer, and was instrumental in raising more than $1.5 million in private support for the campus. She serves on several boards including the Colleton Medical Center Board, Lowcountry Workforce Investment Board and the South Carolina Artisans Center Advisory Board. Carmichael and her husband “Randy” Carmichael Jr. have one daughter, Catherine.

Dee Dee Chewning joins the Collaborative as chair of the board of directors. Chewning served as executive director of Healthy Learners, a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System that serves uninsured and underinsured school-age children by providing access to needed health care and transportation to receive this care, from 1992 through 2005. She is active in the community and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including South Carolina’s first inductee into the South Carolina Association of School Nurses Hall of Fame, Palmetto Gold Recipient for excellence in Nursing and the Governor’s Order of the Silver Crescent.

She has served on the Healthy Schools/Healthy SC Network Action Council and the Central Midlands Advisory Council of Safe Kids, and currently serves on the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina Board and United Way Association Board of South Carolina. Chewning and her husband Judge Richard Chewning live in Lexington, and they have two adult children and three grandsons.

“Reaching out to those in need, in a united way, is the true purpose of the Collaborative,”

Chewning said. “Hopefully, the efforts of those who are sincerely committed can and will impact Allendale and surrounding communities in a positive and lasting way.”

Board member Carmen Finch, BSN, RN, is a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, where she was the recipient of the Navy Achievement Medal. Certified as an operating room nurse since 1979, she currently serves, when called, as a staff nurse at the William Jennings Bryan Dorn Veterans Administration Hospital.

Finch is the past president of the Midlands Association of Operating Room Nurses and is a member of the National Association of Operating Room Nurses and the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Sorority. She was honored with the Palmetto Gold Award for Excellence in Nursing in 2003. Both Finch and her husband are members of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team Weapons of Mass Destruction Team for the U.S. She is a resident of West Columbia and has a home in Allendale County.

Board member Ken Hiatt is administrator of the Allendale County Hospital and the John Edward Harter Nursing Center, a position he has held since 1975. A resident of Allendale County, Hiatt served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force in the Medical Service Corps. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American College of Healthcare Administrators and the South Carolina Board of Long Term Health Care Administrators.

“We are very pleased to have these individuals join the Collaborative board,” Healthy Communities Collaborative Director Camille Nairn said. “They bring a strong and eager commitment to better communities and affect change in the lives of those served by the Collaborative.”

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