Dr. Benjamin has been through it all

MOBILE Ala. - FIGHTING FOR HEALTH CARE

Dr. Regina Benjamin has struggled to keep her Bayou La Batre clinic open through calamity and catastrophe. Rebuilding and keeping hope alive for hundreds of patients that depend on her. To do that, she's needed thousands of dollars in grants.

Over the years, Tom Davis has come to know Dr. Regina Benjamin very well. As the President of the Community Foundation of South Alabama, his group has helped Dr. Benjamin by providing thousands of dollars in grant money.

He told FOX10, " Dr. Benjamin is one of the most humble, unassuming, people that I know for a person of her stature."

And Davis has seen the struggles she went through to keep her Bayou clinic open.

"She had flooding during Katrina and subsequently the building was rebuilt and it burned down, and she's struggling to rebuild it to meet the current guidelines," he said.

A POWERFUL TRIP

Just a few months after Katrina, Davis and Dr. Benjamin went on a trip to Thailand to see the aftermath of the tsunami. Davis says the loss of life put Katrina in a new perspective.

"We drove up to one building. It looked like a warehouse. We were told on our tour 3,000 unidentified bodies were held frozen in that building. I looked at Regina and she looked at me and she said, 'I just can't imagine,'" Davis said.

Davis said patients will always be first to Dr. Benjamin and that South Alabama should be proud of her appointment.

"Everything is just easy for Regina, " Davis said. "She will do well in her position."