Transcription:
The Outer Banks Hospital Celebrates 20 Years of Growth and Innovation with Beulah Ashby

Denise Schnabel: Hey everyone. Welcome back to Outer Banks Health History, the official podcast series of the Outer Banks Hospital and Medical Group. This month marks 20 years since the hospital opened. We will be celebrating with weekly episodes that feature guests who will speak about life before TOBH as well as its early years.

We are your hosts, Denise Schnabel

Wendy Kelly: And I'm Wendy Kelly. We are thrilled to have today's guest in the house. She is a true Outer Banks, local, not only born on Roanoke Island, but grew up there and actually still resides on the island today. Currently retired, she served the residents and visitors of Dare county as the customer service supervisor at Dare County water department for 30 years. She also was appointed to the Outer Banks Hospital Board of Directors in 2009 and served in that role for five years. Please join us in welcoming this amazing community member, Beulah Charity Ashby. Hey, Beulah, welcome.

Denise Schnabel: Welcome. Thank you so much for being here today. I admire you. I've only been here permanently for 12 years. You have actually been here literally your whole life. You were born in Manteo. Tell us about that.

Beulah Ashby: Well, I was born in Manteo. My mom and dad, of course always lived there. And I was born in 1953, April 16th, 1953. And I was delivered by a midwife from one cheese, North Carolina, and her name was Bertha Crane. And from what I can understand, she delivered the majority of the children in our area and in our neighborhood.

Denise: So the midwives. So there were no OB GYN providers, right? So,

Beulah: Nope. I don't think so.

Denise: So you had midwives, so did they all come from a group or were they independent or do we know?

Beulah: I think they were pretty much independent and I'm sure there was more than one, but that is the only one that I can remember hearing of.

Denise: Oh, well, you were zero years old, right?

Beulah: Right.

Denise: So then you also went to school in Roanoke island, right?

Beulah: I did. Actually the first school that I attended was Roanoke school, which was before integration. It was a segregated school and it served from first grade through 12th. However, it only had three classrooms, very small. And the auditorium they used for the high school.

Wendy: Wow. Where was the building located on the island?

Beulah: The building is located on, Sir Walter Raleigh street and most people know it now as the Headstart Center.

Denise: Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. So like how many people were in your class?

Beulah: Well, actually it was more than one class. There was like first, second, third and four, fifth, six, and then seventh, eighth. And all of the high school kids that were there, went to school. They had their classes in the auditorium, which was a very small auditorium. Our lunchroom.

Denise: Yeah.

Wendy: So things were different back then. Yeah. Yeah. Any interesting stories from that time as a child, that you remember? Well, you can tell us?

Denise: From the Outer Banks.

Beulah: Yeah. You know, it's really funny because even though we were in a segregated school and it was only black children. We, it was wonderful. I guess we were sheltered some kind of way because we never felt excluded or or anything because, you know, we knew everybody was there. Now when my sisters and brothers grew up and were going into high school, a lot of the parents would send their high school children to different schools. Now my BR, my sister went to Virginia to go to high school. And then my other sister went to Elizabeth City to go to high school because of the courses. It was a little different than elementary school than high school because the teachers were very scarse.

Denise: Where would they live?

Beulah: My sister's actually live with family members. My sister who went to Norfolk, lived with my grandmother and my aunt and my sister who went to Elizabeth City. She lived with cousins. But there is other children who left home also to go to high school.

Denise: Hmm. Interesting.

Wendy: That's fascinating.

Denise: So if you were to like break your arm, there was no medical care. The hospital wasn't here until 2002. Where would kids go if they got injured or hurt or family members?

Beulah: They did have like a health center here. But if you broke your arm if your mom and your grandmother couldn't fix it, most of the time they get a whole lot of fixing then you had to go to a Elizabeth City.

Wendy: To Albemarle.

Beulah: To Albemarle hospital.

Wendy: So fast forward to when the hospital was built, what did you think of that? You must've heard the stories that it was coming.

Beulah: Oh yeah. I mean, for years having lived on this island, we with the tourists and everything that we have, you know, you actually needed health care. And the doctor that I remember was Dr. Harvey. I remember Dr. Harvey, when he came, he had a medical facility in downtown Manteo, and my youngest brother, I think he probably 60, 61 now, but that's the first baby. I can remember going to the doctor to see when he was born.

Wendy: Wow. Yeah, he was probably very popular.

Beulah: And Dr. Harvey, I mean, if something happened to you, pretty much, you went to Dr. Harvey for everything.

Denise: Did he come to visit homes? Didn't they used to doctors come to your houses?

Beulah: Every now and then he would, but the majority of the time you could go to his office. I can't remember him ever coming to our house for anything, but I do remember going to his office.

Wendy: So then the hospital came.

Beulah: When the hospital came and man, we prayed for that for years and years. Because when I think about the hospital I had my child in 1979 and I remember having I got up and I called my mom and I said, I think I need to go to the doctor because the baby's coming. And I remember getting in a car and they drove all the way to Elizabeth City and. And the trains e wwere going across this train station and the train was on the track. So therefore I had to wait for the train to go by.

Denise: You were in labor.

Beulah: I was in labor. I was in labor, water broke and all that good stuff and praying that I could get to the hospital and I did.

Denise: Did you get there in time?

Beulah: We did.

Denise: That's awesome.

Wendy: I can't imagine that it's always painful waiting for the hundred and 20 cars to go by not having a baby. So we know that you were on the board of the hospital. Why did you want to do that?

Beulah: I've always felt that we live in a beautiful area. And one thing that we were missing was adequate health care for everyone. And when everyone started talking about possibly having a hospital here, I was just so on board with it and that we could have care where we didn't have to jump up and go to Norfolk or Columbia used to be a hospital in Columbia and Eden and Eatonton and different places like that, that we would be home. And, you know, you get adequate care here. So when that hospital came, I was just over the moon, I was happy.

Denise: So you've seen a lot of innovations over the years with the hospital and with the community. Tell us some that have really impressed you or made you happy or anything like that.

Beulah: You know, when, just say for instance when I was growing up as a youth here. We had children who of course fell out of trees. And it was a blessing that Dr. Wright was here then. But you know, just knowing that if you had an emergency, you had adequate medical care here. If someone had a heart attack or if someone had a stroke or, you know, if there was a baby who needed attention right then and there that we had it. And that was just, it was just a blessing.

Denise: So if you had to come up with one favorite moment of being on the Board of Directors of the Outer Banks Hospital, what would that memory be? Assuming you have one.

Beulah: I do. The first thing that I can truly remember and felt proud of was the day that we interviewed Ronnie Sloan and and along with others and just listening to his story and listening at you know, how he would carry this hospital forward. I was really pleased to be on the board during that time, knowing that he was the best fit for what we needed for Dare County.

Denise: Nice. And we believe he is and has been a marvelous addition to our hospital.

Wendy: And he was telling the truth back then. Absolutely. Yes.

Denise: So you mentioned also that you were on a lot of committees and throughout the years. And how do you feel that you might have made an impact on Dare County in your time doing that?

Beulah: You know, my first joy in living here is because I love young people. Hm. And I have served probably on every PTA, every youth council, every 4H anything to do with children. And you know, it's just it amazes me that we have some of the best schools in the region. We have wonderful teachers. We have a beautiful place to live and I just enjoy being here and showing others the beauty of where I live.

Denise: That's great. How many children do you have?

Beulah: I have one.

Denise: One. Oh, good for her, him, her him good for him.

Wendy: And we went through Manteo schools, huh?

Beulah: Yes. Yes. We went through Manteo schools and as I said, we were all born and raised here in Manteo. My grandmother, her mother was born in Hatteras, North Carolina. And so I

Denise: Wow I wonder how that was. Like

Beulah: Back in the day, back in the day, you know, it's sort of weird. My great-grandmothe was from Hatteras. She was a Collins and she married and my great grandfather, he was from Engelhard, North Carolina. So I guess you would say it was across the Creek, but anyway, they lived here all their lives and died here and all my other family members, my mother and my father as well.

Wendy: What a rich, rich history. What are your based on that? What are your hopes for the future when you look ahead and for you and also for on the Outer Banks?

Beulah: Well, you know, the Outer Banks has grown so much and the thing that gets me, I love it. It's beautiful. You know, it would be so nice for the children who have been born and raised here to grow up and be able to live and stay here to be able to afford to stay here. And the majority of all properties are pretty much gone. Any property that they may have had in their family, you know, is out of reach for them right now? So that's probably the thing that bothers me the most is that if you want to, if you lived here and you want to come back to live, it's pretty difficult trying to find some place that you can afford to live.

Wendy: And I can see where that is. I've been here for almost 20 years, but I consider this home. I can't imagine what that would feel like if your family has been here for generations and generations. And I hope that changes.

Beulah: Yeah. I mean, going forward I know that they're looking at trying to have affordable housing, but you know, I've been listening to that for like 40 years now and it's nothing's changed, but anyway, going forward, I hope that something like that will happen. We've got our hospital and win and getting our hospital. You know, we got to have a few corporate stores and different things to come in. So that's helped the economy some but also we need to be able to sustain our own families. And that's the only way we can do that is if they can have housing.

Denise: You are right.

Wendy: Agree. So Beulah, what was it like being a child in Manteo back then?

Beulah: You know, we grew up my mother had, and father had nine children. So I'm in the middle of that nine and as children, you know, we did all things that other kids did. We played every day outside. It's not like you're sitting in the house with a book or a computer or anything like that. You had to go outside and play ball or whatever. And when we started school, of course, we were going to Roanoke school and that school was not integrated at that time. Integration, I went over to Manteo middle school when I was going into the eighth grade. So once our schools were integrated, of course,Roanoke school was no longer there.

And to me that was our heaven, our savings grace, because, you know, you knew the teachers, you knew the cooks, you knew everybody that was at the school. And when we went to Manteo middle, it was entirely different for us as a people, because we were so used to living one way, the majority of our lives. And then when we went to middle school, it was, it changed. So we got to mingle more with children that were not the same of the color that we were. And some of the things they did that were different than what we did, but all in all. It was a good thing in that we got to experience more. We got to learn more because if you've got a classroom, when you've got first, second, third, fourth grade in one class, and you have one teacher with no assistant, then you don't get the type of attention and learning that you would naturally have.

So when we went over to the Manteo middle and the Manteo high school, that was a different story. And as I said before, when our adult kids grew up to go to high school, a lot of our parents shipped them to different places where family members were, whether it was Elizabeth City or Norfolk to get a better education than what they were receiving at Roanoke school.

So, when we went over to the Manteo high school, I mean we had football games, we had so many different things that we didn't have a lot of at our school.

Wendy: When was that? The seventies or the sixties?

Beulah: It was in the sixties. The last sixties. Yeah. And. My, it was funny because I, this is the one thing I remember about going to Roanke school when I was in school, I never remembered having a new book. Ever, I can never remember having a new book and I would see the names of some of the kids in the, that was on the book and it just bothered me that there were so many different things at that school that we did not have at our school.

Wendy: Interesting.

Beulah: And even though, we were the same county, we should've had the same education and that wasn't necessarily the case.

Denise: So when they went to Norfolk or Elizabeth City where they segregated there, or were they not.

Beulah: They were in the beginning, but at that time it was segregated because they went to a PW More high school, then was black. But once integration came, of course they, changed. But once the Manteo high school opened for us, the majority of the kids that went there, lived here, went there. They didn't have to go out of town anymore. So that was a big help. At least you kept families together. Yeah.

Denise: Right. Exactly. Well, we really appreciate you being here with us today. I could talk to you probably for hours about being here your whole entire life. I'm just fascinated by it. So we really appreciate you taking your time out of your not gonna volunteer, volunteer schedule and being with us today.

Beulah: Well, it's been a pleasure. And as I said, I love it. I was born and raised here. And I love to travel, but at the end of the day, when I can cross either one of those bridges back into Manteo, it's my safe place. I love it.

Wendy: Thank you, Beulah.

Beulah: Welcome.

Denise: If you've enjoyed this podcast, listen to us on your podcast social channels. If you want to listen to all of them, you can visit us at theobh.com/podcast. This has been the Outer Banks Health Minute brought to you by the Outer Banks Hospital and Medical Group. Stay safe.