Dr. Arda Davis-Tolbert

Hear Me Roar

HearMeRoar1118

November 2018 Issue

Family: Spouse: Dr. Claude Tolbert. Children: Collin Elizabeth, 18, freshman at Hampton University in Hampton, VA; Braxton Myles, 15, sophomore at Beaufort Academy.

Tell us a little about your journey to the Lowcountry:

I grew up in Macon, Georgia, youngest of five children. First in my family to go to college, I attended Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia from 1989-1993, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. I then attended Boston University School of Medicine from 1993-1997 in Boston. The United States Navy paid my way through medical school. I completed my residency at Eastern Virginia Medical School (1997-2001) in Norfolk, Virginia, and then served as an OB/GYN for the United States Navy at Beaufort Naval Hospital. Completing my obligation in 2005, I resigned my commission as Lieutenant Commander. I entered the world of private practice in Beaufort from 2005 to 2013, joined the Tenet Healthcare system in 2013, and with a team of doctors, I helped form Riverside Women’s Care now serving greater Beaufort, Hampton and Jasper counties.

Do you keep tabs on the number of little blessings you’ve delivered in your 16 years of practice?
I began residency with the goal to track my first 100 deliveries. Little did I know that goal would be reached well within the very first year. I estimate having delivered at least 2,000 babies thus far in my career.

When you’re not wearing scrubs,
what’s your fashion style?
For those of you who do not know me, I love, love, love to shop! When not in the hospital, I’m usually not wearing scrubs. On any given day in the office, my staff would agree that my style is more of a conservative cosmopolitan.

If you hadn’t become a doctor what would you be?

I knew I wanted to be a doctor by seventh grade. I enjoy doing what I do so much that it is incredibly difficult for me to think about another career. I will say I have a passion for teaching/empowering. So if I had to choose another career, I think I would be a teacher.

You are known and beloved in Beaufort County for your work with high-risk pregnancy patients. Are there special blessings that attend these births?  

To be honest, I always consider it an honor and a privilege to take part in the birth of a new baby into this world. To me, there is no delivery just like any other delivery. They are all special in their own kind of way. Deliveries are one of those things that constantly remind me of how awesome God is and how powerful are His works.

Do you consider yourself blessed and why?

Absolutely! The ability to wake up every day with the use of my mind and limbs is itself a blessing. Don’t get me wrong; challenges are always before me, but even on my most difficult days I am blessed!!

What is your favorite Thanksgiving side dish
and may we have the recipe?
I also love food. My husband would say my favorite Thanksgiving side dish is my mother’s cornbread dressing. I think he says this because it is the only dressing I will eat. It is simple, but delicious. This is what she says she does (There has to be more to it because no one else can make it like she does): Make a pan of cornbread. Mix fresh warm broth from a cooked hen into the cornbread. Add grated loaf bread, celery, onion, cream of mushroom soup and eggs. She soaks this mixture overnight. The next day, it is baked at 350 for 2 hours. YUM! I can’t wait.

What are you roaring about?

My roar is one of empowerment no matter what the situation may be.  I find comfort in the fact that I take good care of women. I work hard to make them well. But most of all, I am passionate about them becoming empowered when it comes to their own health. It matters more to me that my patients understand WHY I say or do what I do; not just hearing me. At the end of my career, it is not the number of babies I delivered, or how many surgeries I performed, I pray that what my patients remember most about me is that I cared! I am Dr. DT! Hear me ROAR!!  #BLESSED