Dr. Fred McQueen, chief of staff of Sandhills Regional Medical Center and owner of McQueen Medical Center in Hamlet, was recently honored by the Old North State Medical Society with the Kuumba Award for his leadership and compassion.

The award was presented at the group’s Leadership Summit on Healthcare Reform in Raleigh.

Kuumba, which means creativity, is one of the five principles of Kwanzaa. The definition speaks to doing all that one can to improve a community condition to make it better for those who will inherit it.

“I was definitely humbled by the award and the fact that it came from my colleagues,” McQueen said. In quoting lyrics from the hymn, “A Charge To Keep I Have,” McQueen said: “To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill, O may it all my powers engage, to do my Master’s will.”

Board certified in family medicine, McQueen said his advice to medical students is that you have to be more than a physician in the community in which you live. His work speaks to this truth.

“Visionary, initiator, courageous, anchored and insightful” were some of the words Old North State used to describe McQueen. He was the first African-American physician in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army; he has served as president of the Richmond County NAACP since 1978; he is a former president of the Old North State Medical Society; he is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity; and he is medical director of Britthaven Nursing Facility.

McQueen has also been a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, one of the most prestigious awards presented by the Governor of North Carolina.

“In the course of the last 37 years, Dr. McQueen has been a pillar of stability in his community,” Old North State said.

“We are very proud of Dr. McQueen for receiving this honor,” said Michael J. Davis, Sandhills Regional Medical Center Chief Executive Officer. “This award is a testament of the genuine care and concern he has for his patients and for his community.”

Founded in 1887, the Old North State Medical Society is a private, non-profit, self-perpetuating society, and the nation’s second oldest chartered African-American Medical Society in America. It is the official N.C. affiliate of the National Medical Association, representing the interest of 2,200 African-American physicians practicing in the state.

Today, the group’s efforts focus on every discipline and extend across every cultural and ethnic line. They include health advocacy for physicians and patients, fighting to eliminate health disparities and chronic disease, and increasing minority enrollment in medical and dental schools.