SALISBURY — PruittHealth, the management company of the State Veterans Home in Salisbury, will celebrate 50 years of service to the community on Wednesday.

The original PruittHealth at Toccoa Nursing Center could care for 60 patients at any given time.

Neil Pruitt Sr., founder of PruittHealth, purchased land on the side of a mountain in Tallulah Falls to protect it from developers. He leased the land for $1 per year to the Athens Y Camp. One weekend every summer, the PruittCares Foundation hosts Camp Cocoon, a bereavement camp for children who have lost a loved one, on that same plot of land.

The company employed a few dozen when PruittHealth was founded in 1969. Today, the family has grown to 16,000 employees in four states. Each receives a turkey dinner for the holidays courtesy of Chairman and CEO Neil L. Pruitt Jr., who took over the family-run business in 2003.

The company was originally known as UHS-Pruitt Corp. but was always a Pruitt family organization. It was renamed to PruittHealth in 2014 to better reflect the range of services it had grown to offer, including advanced rehabilitation, home health and hospice care.

The State Veterans Home in Salisbury joined the PruittHealth family of providers in 2001. Located at 1601 Brenner Ave., the home was recognized by U.S. News and World Report in 2018-19 on its list of Best Nursing Homes.

“We take great pride in caring for Rowan County’s hometown heroes,” said CEO Pruitt. “It is a privilege to care for those who taught us and fought for us. This important milestone honors every partner, every patient and every resident — every person who makes this organization special and has shaped it into what it is today.”

PruittHealth provides a network of post-acute care services and resources, offering skilled nursing care, home health care, end-of-life hospice care, and therapy services, as well as pharmacy and infusion services, across the Southeast.

Its employees serve about 24,000 patients daily in more than 180 locations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

For more information about PruittHealth, visit www.pruitthealth.com.

Duke Energy announces grants for storm preparation

CHARLOTTE — Duke Energy is providing more than $1.1 million to help North Carolina communities increase their response capabilities for storms with preparation and planning.

Recipients include the Salisbury Fire Department and the Miller’s Ferry Volunteer Fire Department.

A total of 65 grants were awarded across the state from among more than 140 applications, with projects ranging from swift-water rescue equipment and specialized radios to nonprofit training and Spanish language outreach.

“The overwhelming response to this grant opportunity underscores the profound need of our communities, many still recovering from the devastation of last year’s storms,” said Stephen De May, North Carolina president of Duke Energy.

“We want to help our communities become more resilient to the impacts of a major storm. And with the season’s first major hurricane forming in the Atlantic, we have a vivid reminder of the importance of advance planning.”

Atlantic Beach Mayor Trace Cooper said the grants underline Duke’s commitment to the communities it serves.

“We are very thankful for the support of Duke Energy to help us develop a stormwater resiliency plan to manage flooding while maintaining the quality of water in our ocean, the sound, and our canals,” said Cooper.

The storm resiliency grants, funded by the Duke Energy Foundation, support training for first responders for severe weather scenarios; planning initiatives for communities to prepare for extreme weather; equipment necessary for rescues; community storm preparedness training, materials, kits or shelters; emergency communication tools for severe weather; and improved outcomes for low-income communities experiencing extreme weather.

For more information, contact Meredith Archie at Duke Energy’s 24-hour line, 800-559-3853, or go to www.news.duke-energy.com.