McLeod Health gives $100,000 to Florence-Darlington Tech nursing program

FLORENCE — McLeod Health contributed $100,000 to Florence-Darlington Technical College on Wednesday to help maintain and expand its nursing program.

This marks the seventh consecutive year McLeod has provided support directly to the nursing program at Florence-Darlington Tech.

Florence-Darlington Tech officials said the donation couldn’t have come at a better time as state appropriations for the school’s nursing program are half of what they were 10 years ago. And in 10 years, the school’s nursing program has doubled in size, making it especially important to have continued support from the community.

Florence-Darlington Tech President Dr. Charles Gould said Wednesday’s donation was an assurance and a symbol of a very good relationship between the college and McLeod.

“Without the support of outside partners like McLeod, we couldn’t do this. The health-care community needs the kind of nurses that we turn out,” he said. “To be able to support that we need help and McLeod always steps up to the plate.”

Gould said McLeod has had a relationship with the college that spans four decades. During that time, the school has used McLeod’s clinical facilities and its employees on an adjunct basis, as well as provided student internship scholarships.

On the Florence-Darlington Tech side, nursing students get practical hands-on experience important to their education. On the McLeod side, nursing directors are able to familiarize themselves with students as they work in the hospital doing clinicals. Some of the students are even hired as medical surgical technicians before they graduate.

“They (the students) have an opportunity to learn about the hospital and learn about the patient population, but we have an opportunity to learn about the students at the same time,” said Leannne Huminski, chief nursing officer for McLeod Regional Medical Center.

Kristin O’Neal, a graduate of Florence-Darlington Tech’s nursing program, said she enrolled in it after having been out of high school for several years. She said she looked at it as a last chance for her to have a nursing career.

Through the school’s relationship with McLeod, O’Neal did her clinicals at McLeod Regional Medical Center and eventually earned her Licensed Practical Nurse certification before graduating. Today she is a registered nurse working in McLeod Regional Medical Center’s Medical Intensive Care Unit.

O’Neal said McLeod promotes nursing excellence and makes her want to strive to be an excellent nurse.

“I think that the relationship McLeod has with FDTC, to be allowed to do so many clinicals there is a great thing,” she said.

Florence-Darlington Technical College offers an associate degree in nursing that allows students to prepare for Registered Nurse boards in five semesters. Each year, McLeod hires about 50 percent of the students who graduate from Florence-Darlington Tech’s nursing program, Huminski said.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the nation’s nursing shortage is expected to reach 29 percent by the year 2020. The $100,000 McLeod Health donation will keep Florence-Darlington Tech from having to reduce the number its number of nursing students because of a lack of funding for its program.

McLeod Health provides funds in support of nursing education programs at both Florence-Darlington Technical College and Francis Marion University.