Charleston’s Most Unusual Hospital: Its Patients are Sea Turtles

South Carolina Public Radio | By Tut Underwood

Published January 4, 2016 at 5:16 AM EST

Checking the progress of a patient at the Turtle Rescue Program of the South Carolina Aquarium.

In the past year, 38 sick or injured sea turtles have been rescued or rehabilitated at the sea turtle hospital operated by the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, the only such facility in the state. In this edition of South Carolina Focus, we follow Turtle Rescue Program Director Kelly Thorvalson on a tour of the facility and learn from her and public relations manager Kate Ditloff about the planned expansion of the facility, which needs more space to handle the increasing number of injured sea turtles being brought to the hospital. The facility has an excellent record of healing injured turtles, but the iconic reptiles still face many problems in a changing environment.

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Tut Underwood

Tut Underwood is producer of South Carolina Focus, a weekly news feature. A native of Alabama, Tut graduated from Auburn University with a BA in Speech Communication. He worked in radio in his hometown before moving to Columbia where he received a Master of Mass Communications degree from the University of South Carolina, and worked for local radio while pursuing his degree. He also worked in television. He was employed as a public information specialist for USC, and became Director of Public Information and Marketing for the South Carolina State Museum. His hobbies include reading, listening to music in a variety of styles and collecting movies and old time radio programs.

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