North Carolina physician earns rural doctor award

Hurricanes can't keep family physician Charles Boyette, MD, from caring for his patients.

By Damon Adams, amednews staff. Dec. 8, 2003.

Thank goodness Charles Boyette, MD, lives on higher, drier ground.

When Hurricane Isabel pounded the North Carolina coast in September, the little town of Belhaven, N.C., was in harm's way. Water surged from the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and Pungo River and flooded the farming and fishing community of about 2,200 people.

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Floodwaters closed the local hospital, so Dr. Boyette's home, safe from the rising water, served as the emergency department.

"I had the rescue workers bring the patients to my house," said Dr. Boyette, a family physician in Belhaven for 38 years. "We opened up my office after the storm. The office covered the town until the hospital was able to open back up."

That kind of devotion to his town and its people is what earned Dr. Boyette the honor of 2003 Country Doctor of the Year. Staff Care, a Texas-based temporary physician staffing firm, has bestowed the title on rural doctors for nine years now.

Dr. Boyette, 68, a two-time finalist, won the award from a field of 139 nominees. "I don't believe there's a doctor in the United States who does anything more for the people and their community than Dr. Boyette. I firmly believe God sent him this way," said Belhaven Councilman Albert Baker.

Baker is one of Dr. Boyette's patients, and he is a colleague as well. Dr. Boyette has served as Belhaven's mayor for 31 years.

The doctor fights as hard for the well-being of this town in eastern North Carolina as he does for the health of his patients.

He fought to save the struggling Pungo District Hospital, where he admits patients. He pushed for federal funding to elevate low-lying homes from flooding. He's pitching a water development plan with a marina and boat slips.

"I'm a country doctor and a public servant," said Dr. Boyette, who has four grown children and four grandchildren.

Becoming a country doctor

Dr. Boyette grew up in this part of North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. He served in the U.S. Navy and left the Marine Corps as a flight surgeon. He wanted to work in a rural community similar to his hometown.

He went to Belhaven in 1964. "I simply moved further to the coast and selected a community in need of a physician," he said.

On his first day, Dec. 5, 1964, he saw 15 patients. "I haven't seen that few patients since that time," he said.

He got involved in Belhaven's political and business scene, joining the local chamber of commerce, school board and Belhaven council before becoming mayor.

During that time, hurricanes have come calling -- Bonnie, Bertha, Fran and Isabel, to name a few.

"We were in the eye of the majority of these storms," said Dr. Boyette, sounding like a salty sea veteran.

In the late 1990s, Belhaven received government funds to elevate about 320 homes to keep them from flooding easily. It was one of those town efforts that Dr. Boyette supports, seemingly tirelessly.

"He has the energy level of someone who just finished residency and is ready to go full-force," said Ken Ragland, CEO of Pungo District Hospital. "A man with that much experience, it pays to listen to him."

Friends said Dr. Boyette moves with a purpose, like he always has something to do next.

"Most of the time, he's walking like he's in a hurry," Baker said. "He just keeps going and going and going."

Dr. Boyette isn't thinking about slowing down in the exam room or in public office. His practice is still located on the corner of Haslin and Water streets, but it now serves 25,000 patients from Belhaven and surrounding areas. Besides Dr. Boyette, the C.O. Boyette Medical Clinic now has two other physicians and a total staff of about two dozen.

He makes house calls and strives for a personal touch in other ways. He buys tennis shoes for local youths so they can play on school sports teams. When one elderly patient's cat died, he had an employee get her a kitten that looked like her old cat.

"Physicians should not just live in the community," Dr. Boyette said. "They should be a part of the community and be a positive influence."