Our Story

The Sandhills Pediatrics Story

In August, 1966, Dr. David Bruton founded Sandhills Pediatrics with his friend from medical school, Dr. William Clark. Wanting to be close to his family, Dr. Bruton came back to Moore County after his military service ended, and he and his partner opened their first office in Southern Pines. A new family, the Sandhills Pediatrics family, was born.

In the past 55 years, our family has grown. A lot has happened since 1966. Children who grew up visiting Sandhills Pediatrics now bring their children to see us. Former patients have joined our practice as staff members. Today, Sandhills Pediatrics has 12 pediatricians, 6 nurse practitioners, 2 child and adolescent psychiatrists, 1 PhD psychologist, 1 psychiatric nurse practitioner and 3 licensed professional counselors, 1 licensed clinical social worker and 1 master of education counselor working in our offices in Southern Pines, Seven Lakes, and Raeford. We are proud to provide both physical and mental healthcare for our patients despite the disincentives in the healthcare system.  Our providers have over 170 years of combined pediatric experience caring for the children of our Sandhills community! But even as we’ve grown, we’ve stayed true to the original vision of Dr. Bruton and Dr. Clark.

Our Four Guiding Principles

Sandhills Pediatrics is here to support healthy, happy families in a healthy, happy community. Here are the four principles that guide us:

We turn medical care into medical caring.

Medical caring means always trying to do more than expected to show that the health and happiness of our patients and their families really matters. We aspire to have our patients and their families see medical caring come to life through our actions—it’s more than just words to us, it’s embedded in the soul of our practice.

We are a supportive hand to hold.

We are an extension of the family, providing reliable, compassionate, and expert guidance for parents, patients, and families. For families facing unknown, unfamiliar, and even scary situations, we seek to provide a confident hand that leads them to a better place.

We find harmony between quality care and convenience.

One of the most difficult challenges for any medical practice is balancing great, high quality care with speed and convenience. At Sandhills Pediatrics, we continue to seek new ways to achieve the ideal balance between quality care and convenience.

By offering extended and weekend hours, last-minute appointment availability, multiple office locations, and by making significant efforts to reduce wait time and increase efficiency, we’re getting closer to achieving that balance every day.

We serve the whole community as an extension of our family.

We understand that the road to creating happy, healthy families begins with a happy, healthy community. So Sandhills Pediatrics takes an active leadership role in shaping an inclusive future for the community in which we live and work.

We serve the whole community, regardless of race, class, or means. We create a safe, supportive medical home. And we extend our efforts beyond our own walls to improve our community through service, education, and outreach.