“Life has taught me the importance of listening and really hearing what people need to say. Kindness is paramount,” said Bonnie Jeffreys Brown, this year’s recipient of the Health Care Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award honors Brown’s 40 years as executive director of the New Hanover-Pender County Medical Society, from which she retired at the end of 2023.
The purpose of the society, which represents hundreds of physicians in the Wilmington area, is threefold: to bring the physicians of New Hanover and Pender counties into one organization so that they may make the opinions of the profession in all scientific, legislative, public health and socioeconomic matters effective; to join with other county medical societies to form the N.C. Medical Society; and to form the American Medical Association with other state societies.
Of her tenure, Brown said, “My aim was to help each president of the society to be the best he or she could be and to support the board, the membership and the community in any way needed and that my skill set allowed."
The society’s physicians have been responsible for hundreds of accomplishments over the past 40 years. A physician spearheaded an endowed scholarship for premedical students at University of North Carolina Wilmington in 1989. In another example, the society hosted a health fair at Independence Mall in 1994 and started an annual Summer Social and Family Day.
“By offering opportunities for physicians and their spouses to gather and really get to know each other, they could see that, specialties aside, they are more alike than different,” she said, recognizing the importance of transparency and communication, inclusion and collegiality.
The society celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary in 2017, attracting the participation of eight other community agencies. Health Hotlines were held, annual state-mandated athletic pre-participation screening exams continued, yearly donations to a deserving charity were started, and in 2010, the society constructed a house with Habitat for Humanity. Brown had the honor to see the clinic at the New Hanover County Health Department named for past society president Frank Reynolds and hear firsthand that a member averted a suicide during a Health Hotline.
“These were marvelous to witness,” Brown said.
The society started a retired physicians’ section, and in 1988, after 121 years, the society began recognizing all past presidents with a plaque.
“Our physicians remain strong in their commitment to their professional organization,” Brown said.
The physicians are eager to serve their community in many capacities, speaking in schools and to the media and writing monthly educational news articles. Members serve on the Department of Health and Human Services board and the Civil Service Commission and have leadership roles in the N.C. Medical Society.
Brown’s career is rooted in her childhood interest in medicine when she aspired to be a medical missionary. She grew up in rural Wake County and is the eldest of four children.
“I loved it. We had a milk cow, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs and a little goat who thought he was a dog and ran to meet us at the school bus each day,” she recalls. Her parents were her inspiration. Her father was a teacher, principal and ordained minister, and her mother worked as a medical technologist.
Brown earned a degree in sociology with an emphasis on social work, psychology and anthropology in 1964 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
She held a variety of jobs leading up to her position with the medical society. During college summers, she was a counselor at Camp Easter in the Pines in Umstead State Park in Wake County through the N.C. Society for Crippled Children and Adults. Brown was a caseworker at the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services and was a manufacturer’s representative for Topsox, a Charlotte-based company.
“It was clear that sales was not my passion when I wasn’t excited, though I sold the most personalized college socks that any salesperson had sold in one order,” she said.
In 1963, she married Philip Michael “Mike” Brown. Ten years later, they relocated their two biological sons, two foster sons, a Chihuahua and a Doberman to Wilmington when Mike was hired to teach and coach basketball at New Hanover High School. During 1973 and 1974, the couple fostered five children.
Choosing to be home to rear her children, Brown took a position with the Tri-County Medical Society as an executive secretary in 1983, a part-time position that enabled her to work from home for the next 10 years. (After Brunswick County members requested their own charter, the organization became the New Hanover-Pender County Medical Society.) Brown’s job transitioned into a full-time role that continued for the next 30 years, with a title change to executive director within a few years.
In 1982, Gov. Jim Hunt awarded her the New Hanover County Individual Human Service Award for volunteerism. In 2016, she received the John Huske Anderson Award from the N.C. Medical Society, which recognizes those outside of the medical profession for contributions to the work of physicians and physician assistants.
Brown is quick to point out that the credit for what the organization has accomplished is not hers. “Our area is fortunate to have a fine group of dedicated physicians. The sacrifices that one must make to even become an MD or DO are enormous,” she said. “Never in my wildest imaginings would I have thought that the position would evolve into a fulfilling career in association management. I have enjoyed working with the hundreds of physicians. Many, along with their spouses, have become dear friends.”
Brown said she is both humbled and honored by the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“My naturally strong nurturing instinct makes caring for people easy,” she said. “Whatever the future holds, it is my hope that I can continue to learn, to be of comfort and encouragement to those who may need me, and always, always, maintain an attitude of thankfulness whatever my situation.”
