Leadership at last? Senators confirm candidate to run DHEC as coronavirus rages
The candidate to run South Carolina’s health and environmental agency won approval Tuesday from a key Senate committee after answering questions for more than two hours about how he would handle the coronavirus health crisis, his willingness to stand up to political pressure and his knowledge of environmental issues.
The Senate Medical Affairs Committee voted without dissent to confirm Edward Simmer as Department of Health and Environmental Control chief, leaving only the full Senate to approve his nomination. Approval in the Senate is expected, based on the committee’s vote, and Simmer would start work immediately after that.
The DHEC board picked Simmer, a 56-year-old Ohio native, over more than 80 candidates and two finalists. The Dec. 22 decision by the board ended months of searching for a permanent director to lead the state during the coronavirus. South Carolina has had only an interim director since June, when Rick Toomey resigned in the middle of the COVID crisis.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Simmer laid out some of his philosophy and plans for the agency, most notably how he would deal with coronavirus vaccine distribution.
Simmer said the agency’s COVID 19 vaccine roll out could have been done more effectively and he pledged to make improvements to get shots in arms as quickly as possible. DHEC has faced intense criticism overall for its response to the pandemic, with the most recent complaints about the agency’s clunky vaccine distribution plans.
Simmer, a career Navy doctor, said the department erred in relying on having people register for vaccinations online because many South Carolinians don’t have the ability to do that, often because they don’t have internet service. Simmer said he’s already communicated with DHEC staff and the system is being improved. The agency has set up a call center to help register people by phone, and more improvements will be announced this week.
“We know a significant number of South Carolinians do not have reliable internet access,’’ Simmer told the Senate screening panel Tuesday. “So I think one thing I would have done was tried to develop that sooner, to ensure that we had an effective way for people to make appointments as quickly as possible.’’
He also said there has been “some miscommunication between DHEC and the hospitals in terms of the number of vaccines they were going to receive. Certainly, I think we need to look at the communication process, see what happened there.’’
Simmer’s comments were his first public statements since the DHEC board chose him to run the agency about six weeks ago.
During the hearing, Simmer said he supports basing decisions on science; correcting the governor if he makes a mistake on a health matter; and working with community leaders to persuade people reluctant to take the coronavirus vaccine to do so.
“It’s not just access to vaccine, it’s acceptance of vaccine, and I think that’s an area we need to do a lot of work in,’’ Simmer said. “That would be one of my very early steps’’ at DHEC.
Simmer also said he favors using surplus vaccines that are about to go bad on anybody who is available to take them. He said he would go against U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines if he was convinced it would help the state.
Under questioning from Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, Simmer said he supports letting people who have received the first doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines get second doses to make sure they are protected. There has been some discussion nationally of giving more people first doses, without reserving follow-up doses.
“I would be very cautious about not pursuing second doses,’’ he said. “If you look at the difference in efficacy between the first dose and the second dose, it’s pretty dramatic. If we give people one dose and tell them they are good, we’re misleading them.’’
After being quizzed by Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, Simmer said he respects Dr. Anthony Fauci, the national disease expert who has advised both presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Simmer said an important role for DHEC is to better communicate with the public.
“I think highly of Dr. Fauci,’’ Simmer said. “I think he’s a good leader. I think he’s provided useful advice. I don’t necessarily agree with everything he always says, but I think clearly he has got a long history and distinguished career there at the National Institutes of Health.’’
Simmer pledged to tell the Legislature, and the public, the truth about health and environmental issues. Simmer said he expects political pressure, but ultimately is answerable to the public.
A key criticism of DHEC leadership through the years centers on the agency’s failure to stand up to political pressure. But senators have said they are frustrated because the department’s mission is important: protect public health and the environment. The department, one of the state’s largest agencies, has more than 3,000 full-time employees and another 1,000 temporary and part-time workers.
“I see my role number one, first and foremost, is I serve the people of South Carolina,’’ Simmer said. “I can’t serve the people in the most effective way possible if I’m not honest.’’
He also said he favors spending a year studying whether to split DHEC into two agencies. Peeler has introduced bill to break away the agency’s health and environmental divisions, saying DHEC has become too unwieldy.
DHEC has struggled at times during the pandemic to provide testing, vaccine distribution and information about the outbreak in South Carolina. For much of the past year, the agency has been without either a director or a health division chief. Critics say a strong, visionary leader could help the state better respond to the COVID 19 threat.
Many hope Simmer’s nomination as DHEC chief will make a difference in improving South Carolina’s coronavirus response.
Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, grilled Simmer about stopping the spread of COVID 19 by breaking up mass gatherings. Throngs of people got together last spring at bars, restaurants and on beaches, leading to later outbreaks. But Hutto said DHEC had the authority to take control of those situations, rather than leaving enforcement to local governments, which didn’t stop the gatherings.
“It would be somewhat situation specific what we could do,’’ Simmer said in response to Hutto. “But certainly, if we had the legal authority to take action that would prevent significant risk of transmission, I would very seriously consider doing that.’’
Simmer is a career Navy doctor with a long record of military service, most recently working as chief medical officer and deputy director of the TRICARE health plan, a type of insurance for military members and their families.
A psychiatrist, Simmer has run military hospitals in Washington state and in Beaufort. He also has helped provide psychiatric care and counseling to sailors who survived the USS Cole terrorist bombing in 2000, and has served as an advisor to the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility for suspected terrorists.
Simmer and his wife, Peggy, own a home in Beaufort they acquired and restored after he was named to head the military hospital in that area in 2010. She told The State the Simmers “fell in love” with Beaufort while he was stationed there.
Simmer’s choice as director by the board follows criticism that the agency board did not move swiftly enough to find a replacement for Toomey. The board didn’t start seriously searching for a new director until late last summer, and it took until December to find a candidate.
Sen. Sandy Senn, a Charleston Republican who is on the screening committee, told The State the agency is “rudderless.’’
One line of questioning that was not pursued Tuesday is how long Simmer plans to stay on the job. He is now retired from the military and would be the second consecutive retired healthcare official to take the helm at DHEC. Toomey lasted only 18 months after non-coronavirus related health problems surfaced. Since 2012, DHEC has had three different directors and two interim chiefs.
While coronavirus and health questions dominated Tuesday’s hearing, senators also asked Simmer about his knowledge of environmental issues. Simmer said he did not have expertise in that area of DHEC, which is why it’s important to rely on experts within the agency to make decisions. He said he favors speeding up the time for the agency to make decisions on environmental permits.
After the meeting, Senn said it concerns her that Simmer does not have much experience in environmental matters because the Charleston area is suffering from substantial flooding issues. But she said she hopes his military background will give DHEC direction.
Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said he thought Simmer was well-prepared, showing that he was a seasoned healthcare professional. Simmer could be approved by the full Senate by Thursday, Davis said.
“What I was looking for was somebody who had leadership ability, a take charge attitude, and I was very terribly impressed with him in that regard,’’ Davis said
Simmer said he was interested in the DHEC job for several reasons: It was a chance to further his career and move back to South Carolina. He said South Carolina is an enticing place to live based on his past time living in Beaufort. He plans to work from a home in Columbia, rather than commute from his house in Beaufort, which he plans to keep, Simmer said.
Simmer said he was not asked to apply for the DHEC job, but did so on his own.
“South Carolina is our adopted home,’’ Simmer told the committee. “We very much like South Carolina.’’
Staff Writer Maayan Schechter contributed. This story has been updated.
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 1:00 PM.
