(Johnston, SC – May 23, 2024) Self Regional Healthcare and Strom Thurmond High School (STHS) have embarked on a groundbreaking partnership, signed on May 15, 2024, to align student career aspirations with community workforce needs. This partnership establishes Self Regional Healthcare as the title sponsor and community partner for the Strom Thurmond Human Services and Business Academy, one of the school’s three new learning academies. The partnership is centered around an innovative career academy model that integrates academic coursework with industry exposure. This model aims to prepare STHS students for both college and careers by providing them with essential knowledge, skills, and experiences. Self Regional Healthcare Assistant Vice President, Sherri Gordon, expressed her enthusiasm for the collaboration, emphasizing the importance of real-world experiences in education. “I would first like to extend my gratitude to the administration and faculty of Strom Thurmond High School for their vision and dedication to fostering educational excellence,” Gordon stated. “The academy model here at Strom Thurmond High School is something that’s truly unique. Thank you for your commitment to your students and recognizing the importance of real-world experiences in shaping their futures.”
Gordon highlighted the evolving nature of healthcare and the increasing demand for professionals due to an aging population and advancing technology. “Healthcare is rapidly changing,” she added. “We just came out of a pretty big pandemic, but we’re also facing a very aging population, and this is going to really increase the demand for healthcare professionals. Technology is also evolving, and interestingly enough, technology in healthcare actually requires more people and not less.” She encouraged students to consider diverse career opportunities within the healthcare field. “Something I tell people all the time is that healthcare is not just a vocation, it’s a calling. It has to be something you feel drawn to and something you enjoy. Fortunately for you, as students, it’s a field that is extremely diverse and there are all kinds of places where you can find that joy.” Self Regional Healthcare serves a large regional community, offering a wide range of medical services and specialties. Gordon concluded, “We need doctors and nurses, but we also need radiation therapists, perfusionists, nuclear medicine techs, and people in surgical technology. These fields are out there and so very often people are not even aware they exist. What we’re hoping with this partnership is you will begin to see some of these things firsthand.” ### About Self Regional Healthcare Self Regional Healthcare is a not-for-profit, regional referral hospital that provides care to residents of Greenwood, Abbeville, Laurens, Saluda, McCormick, Edgefield and Newberry counties. Services include prevention and wellness, acute care and tertiary care services including cancer care, neurosurgery, heart and vascular surgery, NICU, orthopedics and genetics. Self Medical Group is its employed physician affiliate network of 44 practices and more than 200 physicians.