PEMBROKE — One of the state’s highest civilian honors has gone to the founder of HealthKeeperz, Howard Brooks.
Since 1964, North Carolina governors have conferred the Order of the Long Leaf Pine upon residents to recognize their contributions to the state. Brooks received the award at the annual Barnabas Banquet, a celebration of the HealthKeeperz’s culture, based on the values of excellence in care for others, selflessness and uplifting colleagues.
Brooks founded the company as Pembroke Drug Center in 1967, one year after he graduated from the School of Pharmacy at the Medical University of South Carolina. One of the first American Indian licensed community pharmacists in Southeastern North Carolina, Brooks dedicated his career to providing home-based medical care, regardless of ability to pay. He quickly expanded the company. HealthKeeperz now employs about 150 people who care for thousands each year as an integrated health system.
Brooks has served many community organizations in a variety of leadership roles, including Pembroke Gospel Chapel, Lumbee Guaranty Bank and the School of Nursing at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He established the Brenda B. Brooks Distinguished Professorship at UNCP in honor of his late wife, and the Howard Brooks Endowed Scholarship at Medical University of South Carolina School of Pharmacy.
“Our founder and my father, Howard Brooks, set a towering example for me and everyone else at the company for what caregiving is all about,” said Tim Brooks, HealthKeeperz president. “We are so grateful for this recognition, not only for recognizing a life of selflessness lived for the well-being of others, but for what it means for our region of the state. My father has always believed that there are no better people than the citizens of Southeastern North Carolina, and he bet his life on it. The Order of the Long Leaf Pine shows that the people of our state believed in him, too.”
