Davy Nichols prepares for takeoff.
At least twice a month without fail, Davy Nichols takes on a mission. He ar-rives in the early morning hours at his hangar at Hummel Field in Topping, Virginia. He checks the weather and performs multiple safety protocols, eventually loading up his Cessna 182RG Skylane with supplies and personnel in preparation for multiple flights to Tangier Island, Virginia. He might make a stop or two along the way and maybe three or more round trips in a day, depending on who or what needs to be delivered to his island “family.”
He doesn’t make the journey for personal acclaim, and it’s not just a routine business trip (although he has his own air taxi business). He flies this course as a tribute to his father and to the people his father adopted as his own. He does it to carry on a tradition of care.
Tangier Island. Photo courtesy of Will Parsons, Chesapeake Bay Program.
He circles over the waves of the Chesapeake Bay, 14 miles from the mainland, and drops down gently on the small, but well-maintained airstrip, unloads his precious cargo and makes his way to the island’s cheerful, modern health clinic named for his late father — the David B. Nichols Health Center. Sometimes Davy pauses quietly to pay his respects to his father, whose ashes are buried in the cemetery adjacent to the clinic.
He is always greeted warmly by staff and patients alike — Davy bears a strong resemblance to his father, who was much beloved and is deeply missed. It’s obvious that Davy is a welcome sight. “I might not know everyone, but they see me in the waiting room and often share a ‘Dad story,’” he said. “It’s very emotional. They were Dad’s family, too.”
The saga of Tangier’s dear country doctor and his legacy began more than 40 years ago. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, David B. Nichols received his medical degree in 1976 from McGill University. Dr. Nichols’ parents had retired to Virginia’s Northern Neck, and on a sightseeing trip to Tangier, he was inspired by the island and its intrepid people — and he saw a medical quest. Dr. Nichols and his wife, Dianne, moved to Newport News for his family practice residency, under the direction of the Medical College of Virginia at Riverside Hospital in Newport News. He later founded White Stone Family Practice in 1979, which he eventually merged with Riverside Health System. “Mom kept the household running and kept the family together while Dad was so busy,” Davy said.
Dr. David B. Nichols.
Dr. Nichols had always worked with the knowledge that he didn’t want a city life. It was important to him to practice where he was most needed. An avid pilot, he was certified to fly both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, so he began flying to Tangier and volunteering his services on his weekly day off, which earned him the nickname “Dr. Copter.” The sound of his aerial approach to the island meant help was on the way. At the time, the island’s health clinic was an outdated, deteriorating wreck of a building, with bad plumbing and a leaking roof, held together with duct tape in random places.
Dr. Nichols persevered in spite of the crumbling infrastructure and brought his considerable skills to bear — transforming the prospects for health care on the island. He also found an apprentice with great potential. Inez Parks Pruitt had met Dr. Nichols when she was a teenage patient. A Tangier native (she can see her family home from the front porch of the clinic), she had dropped out of high school at 17 to marry her sweetheart, Jerry Pruitt, a boatbuilder and waterman. “I fell in love, got married and raised my babies,” she said. “It was the best job I ever had.” Yet the doctor encouraged her to get her GED and further her education. In 1987, while working part-time at the clinic, she began a 23-year apprenticeship with Dr. Nichols. They became the Holmes and Watson of Tangier health care — he was the skilled practitioner and mentor while she was the capable protégé.
Inez Parks Pruitt, physician assistant and primary health care practitioner at the David B. Nichols Health Center on Tangier Island, VA.
“I interviewed on Christmas Eve, and he put me right to work,” she said. “It was the Nichols school of hard knocks.” Eager to learn, Inez worked as a medical assistant, took CPR classes, trained as an EMT, then became a paramedic. In 2001, a physician assistant program opened at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She commuted almost daily for years, leaving home in the wee hours to hop a boat at 5 a.m. for the trek. She spent the final two years of her studies living on the mainland, depending on her husband to handle the home front. She completed her residency at the doctor’s White Stone practice and received her PA diploma in 2006, the same year Dr. Nichols was named Country Doctor of the Year. Inez was later also honored as one of Virginia’s “Women in History” for her work at the clinic.
“He loved to teach,” Inez said of Dr. Nichols. “I wish everyone could have trained with him for five years.” Why five years, you might ask? “Because the first two years are spent cussing and fussing,” Inez replied. Dr. Nichols was so thorough that a patient might come in for a splinter and leave with a series of diagnostic tests, she noted.
In between the doctor’s weekly visits to the clinic, Inez became the face of health care on the island. She knows every patient, their families and their history. At first, she was on call 24/7 until she set some boundaries. The island has an active emergency medical services team, and the Maryland State Police are available with a helicopter to transport anyone with an extreme medical emergency to hospitals in Crisfield or Salisbury, MD, at no charge. If an illness or injury can’t wait for reasonable daylight hours, the patient is transported to the mainland. After many years of working 80-hour weeks, she now asks simply, “Please don’t wake me up at four in the morning.” Still, Inez is on hand for triage decisions, treating routine ailments, strains, sprains and stitching up wounds — she’s even delivered a baby. But, “When in doubt, we ship them out,” she says.
It’s a formidable responsibility to be in charge of the well-being of the island’s nearly 450 permanent residents, and Dr. Nichols knew exactly what he was doing when he entrusted the job to his apprentice. Inez bears the duty with grace and good humor. “It’s all I know,” she said.
Everyone agrees that the doctor was very forward-thinking. As the old clinic was deemed beyond repair, Dr. Nichols collaborated with his friend and real estate developer Jimmie Carter. “He had a way of inspiring people to be more than they thought they could be,” Carter said. The two formed the Tangier Island Health Foundation in 2006 to raise funds to construct a new clinic. In less than five years, the foundation had raised about $1.7 million to build a pristine, state-of-the-art clinic. Construction was completed in about a year and the clinic was built and furnished through donations from across the Commonwealth. The two-story health center, now owned by the foundation, features three bright exam rooms, a procedure/triage room, a digital X-ray machine and a fully equipped lab, as well as plenty of space for a doctor’s office, housekeeping, laundry, pharmaceuticals, and medical/orthopedic supply storage. The comfortable waiting room often feels like a social hall. There’s even a cozy suite upstairs just in case a doctor, medical student or other visitor has to stay overnight (bad weather happens).
Dr. Hamilton Bice, a Riverside family practice specialist.
Along with Inez, the clinic staff includes Receptionist/Secretary Suzanne Pruitt; Nurse Elana Thomas; Cindy Wheatley, a board-certified phlebotomist who runs the clinic’s lab; and Dr. Hamilton Bice, a Riverside family practice specialist from Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Davy, in addition to his role as pilot, serves as chairman of the foundation board and de facto facility manager. He’s justifiably proud of his father’s unwavering standards. “He agonized over every detail,” Davy said. “It all had to pass the ‘Dad Test.’” For example, the HVAC equipment on the top floor of the building was hung from the ceiling so that vibrations from the machinery wouldn’t be felt downstairs, especially during medical procedures.
On August 29, 2010, the pristine facility opened its doors to great fanfare, with islanders and visiting dignitaries alike celebrating the occasion like a summer festival. It was a bittersweet moment. Just a few months before, Dr. Nichols had learned that an eye cancer he had survived six years prior had spread to his liver, and it was terminal. The announcement was heartbreaking on a day that was supposed to be the happiest of celebrations. “While I will leave you in body,” Dr. Nichols told the gathering, “I will never leave you in spirit.”
Davy Nichols with his Cessna 182RG Skylane.
Four months later, on December 30, Dr. Nichols passed away. The very next week, at his request, his ashes were buried beneath a gravestone in the cemetery right next to the health center. Although he never got to practice in the clinic he helped build, the doctor, who had only recently been named Country Doctor of the Decade, left a legacy of love and care that lives on to this day. Dr. Nichols left his island family with a promise that there would always be a doctor on hand to tend to their needs — he had forged a partnership with Riverside Medical Group to provide ongoing clinical care. Riverside pays for personnel and the foundation maintains the building and equipment. “It’s a soulful initiative,” said Carter, who is now foundation vice president. “They are terrific partners.”
It seems the doctor had thought of everything, including his own son’s future. Davy had accompanied his father on many trips to the island throughout his school years. He and his father shared a love of flying. “He planted that seed with me,” Davy said. He is certified to fly fixed wing aircraft using both visual and instrument flight rules. He earned a commercial rating in 2008. Following his father’s dire cancer diagnosis in 2010, Davy began to partner with his dad on flights to Tangier — sometimes as a passenger, sometimes as the pilot. “I was all in ... being with Dad. We had our best conversations in the plane,” Davy said.
On those flights, through numerous heart-to-heart talks, Dr. Nichols encouraged his son to turn a new page. “So, I’m figuring it out in real time,” Davy said. “While I’m crying my eyes out, Dad put me on a path to re-identify myself.” In addition to his 2002 Bachelor of Science degree in integrated science and technology from James Madison University, the doctor suggested Davy pursue an MBA degree, which Davy completed at William & Mary in 2012. Also, the pair sketched out a plan to make the family Cessna pay for itself by transporting supplies, board members and other necessities to the clinic. “It was all part of Dad’s prudent plan.” In 2014, Davy formed Coastal Sky Taxi, LLC, a one-man, Federal Aviation Administration-licensed commercial air carrier offering custom tours and air transportation. By Riverside Health System rules, this arrangement allowed him to legally fly physicians to the island.
Davy treasures his role as the Tangier clinic’s link to the mainland. In addition to his bi-weekly rounds, he’s come to the rescue in other ways great and small. Once, when Inez’s son-in-law accidentally left his car keys on the island, Davy flew them to him in Crisfield. Also, one winter when the island’s eastern harbor was completely iced in, Davy flew food, medicine, mail and people to and from Tangier when even Coast Guard icebreakers couldn’t make it through.
It’s all part of a family legacy of care. “I feel closest to Dad when I’m in the air,” he said. “I feel like there’s a bigger hand moving the chessboard around.” In his own unique way, Davy provides a vital connection to a remote and remarkable community of Virginians.