Bladen County Hospital Appoints New CEO
5/27/2009

Charles Cameron Highsmith Jr. has been named Chief Executive Officer for Bladen County Hospital in Elizabethtown effective May 27.

A Pender County native, Highsmith has more than 20 years of professional healthcare administration experience. He was previously President and Chief Executive Officer for St. Luke’s Hospital with the Carolinas Healthcare System in Charlotte, where he was responsible for overseeing a 73-bed acute-care critical-access hospital with an 18-bed geriatric psychiatric unit.

Prior to that, Highsmith served in the same role with St. Luke’s Health Care, an umbrella company with five corporations, including a hospital, in-home care company and a rural health center. His duties included responsibility for six corporate Boards of Directors, strategic planning and operations.

Highsmith has also served as an Administrator and Chief Executive Officer with Pender Memorial Hospital in Burgaw, Chief Financial Officer with J. Arthur Dosher Memorial Hospital in Southport, and as a Chief Executive Officer for both Outer Banks Medical Center in Nags Head and Plain View Health Services in Kenansville.

Highsmith graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Science degree and received his Masters of Business Administration degree from UNC-Wilmington in Wilmington. He previously served six years in the U.S. Navy as a pilot and flight instructor.

At Bladen County Hospital, Highsmith will oversee the daily operations for a public, not-for-profit 58-bed critical access hospital that includes a 24-hour Emergency Department, 40-bed Medical/Surgical Unit, an Intensive Care Unit and an up-to-date Birthing Center. Bladen County Hospital is also one of just two critical access hospitals serving primarily rural communities in Southeastern North Carolina.