CSC Hunt's Family Practice office closing

BISHOPVILLLE, S.C. -- CareSouth Carolina today announced the closing of the CSC Hunt’s Family Practice office at 106 Hospital Square in Bishopville. After 59 years of service in Lee County, Dr. Leon Hunt will be retiring.

Patients who have been going to Hunt’s Family Practice can find a provider at CareSouth Carolina’s Bishopville office (545 Sumter Hwy), which has five providers who offer family medicine and behavioral health services.

Dr. Hunt said the partnership with CareSouth Carolina and CEO Ann Lewis was something he will always cherish.

“I knew Ann Lewis for years and years,” Dr. Hunt said. “I’ve always had great respect for her, she’s a cracker jack. In 2002 when they offered us a position, we said that would be great and it’s now been 18 years with CareSouth.”

Dr. Hunt grew up about 60 miles west of Lee County in Winnsboro, S.C. in Fairfield County.

During that time, he decided he wanted to become a doctor and ended up graduating from Clemson University in 1956 before completing medical school at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston in 1960. He served a one-year internship at St. Louis City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri before finding his home in Bishopville in 1961.

“Growing up, I worked at a cotton mill during the summertime and it didn’t take me long to realize I didn’t want to do that,” Dr. Hunt said. “I worked the elevator, swept the floors, wove up yarn in the spinning room. That was hard work and there was something about medicine that intrigued me.”

More than anything, Dr. Hunt said his practice in medicine gave him an opportunity to share his faith with hundreds of patients over the course of his career.

“Medicine, to me, gives me an opportunity to talk and show people the love of Jesus,” Dr. Hunt said. “Over the years, people have come back and they say ‘I remember you because we talked about the Lord.’ Helping people and seeing people get well. You just can’t put that into words.”

As Dr. Hunt retires, he said he wants to thank his patients and is grateful for the support of all his staff members through the years. He is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and children- who live in the Pee Dee area- as well as fishing and golfing.

“More than anything, I think it’s time and I have no regrets about moving forward,” Dr. Hunt said. “I’m going to turn in the keys, walk out of here and keep on enjoying life.”

CareSouth Carolina is a private, non-profit community health center delivering patient-centered health and life services in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. CareSouth Carolina operates centers in Bennettsville, Bishopville, Cheraw, Chesterfield, Dillon, Hartsville, Lake View, Latta, McColl and Society Hill.

Services provided by CareSouth Carolina include family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, women services, OB/GYN, HIV/AIDS primary care, dental, chiropractic services, pharmacy, geriatrics, social services, clinical counseling, laboratory, 4D ultrasound, X-Ray, migrant services and veterans choice provider.