The Self Regional Healthcare Foundation recently made a gift to the Nursing Department at Piedmont Technical College (PTC) to further strengthen the region’s nursing workforce. At a ceremony on September 27, Courtney Furman, chairman of the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation and Ken Coffey, executive director of the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation, presented a check for $170,000 to PTC President Dr. Ray Brooks and Health Care Dean Tara Harris. The funds will be used to help support the nursing curriculum at PTC and to address the immediate need for additional faculty to serve students majoring in the college’s nursing programs.
Pictured from left to right: Dr. Ray Brooks, President of Piedmont Technical College (PTC); Jim Pfeiffer, President and CEO of Self Regional Healthcare (SRH); Tara Harris, PTC Dean of Health Care; Dr. Jack Bagwell, PTC Vice President of Academic Affairs; Linda Russell, SRH Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer; Courtney Furman, Chairman of the of the SRH Foundation; and Ken Coffey, Executive Director of the SRH Foundation.
“The Foundation was approached by the Self Regional Healthcare Board of Trustees and Administration about supporting Piedmont Technical College’s nursing program. After a review of the various Foundation’s special purpose funds, many of which had been established years ago, we were able to identify several funds that we could access in support of this important initiative. One of those funds, The William Barnette Fund, provided the majority of the funding for the nursing program. Mr. Barnette, who passed away in 2015, created a fund with the Foundation in 1999. Before making the decision to utilize the dollars in the Barnette Fund, we contacted Mr. Barnette’s children Van Barnette and Marie Gwinn to seek their input before moving forward. We were thrilled when Mr. Barnette and Ms. Gwinn approved of the idea and suggested that their father would be proud and happy to know that the legacy gift he created would be used to help address the growing shortage of nurses.” said Coffey.
“The Self Regional Healthcare Foundation is happy to help address the growing shortage of nurses and working with partners like Piedmont Technical College to educate local talent and ensure that our community’s healthcare needs are met well into the future,” said Courtney Furman.
“It is a privilege to serve as a strategic partner of Self Regional Healthcare,” Dr. Brooks said. “Providing consistent nurse workforce support is extremely important in the delivery of the highest-quality health care in Greenwood and surrounding areas. This donation will go a long way toward bringing more prospective students into the nursing profession.”
