Central Carolina Technical College’s Iris Room name changes to McLeod Health Auditorium
Dedication comes after McLeod Health’s years of support of school’s nursing program
BY SHELBIE GOULDING
shelbie@theitem.com
Central Carolina Technical College’s large gathering space in its Health Sciences Center has a new name honoring a community partner’s years of endless support.
For four years and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, McLeod Health has been a major supporter of Central Carolina’s nursing program. To show their thanks, the college and its foundation board honored the health care partner with a name dedication.
The new name of Central Carolina Health Sciences Center’s auditorium, formerly the Iris Room, will now be the McLeod Health Auditorium.
On Wednesday, McLeod Health Clarendon CEO Rachel Gainey and Bob Edwards, chair of the Central Carolina Technical College Foundation Board, unveiled the auditorium’s new sign hanging outside its doors.
This dedication followed McLeod Health Clarendon presenting Central Carolina Technical College with a $25,000 donation inside the newly named space.
“McLeod is a great partner of the college, and the college is a great partner of McLeod. This is really a great thing,” Edwards said. “Over the past, probably the past four years, there’s been $100,000 that’s been donated by McLeod to the Central Carolina Technical College Foundation.” According to Edwards, the donations have provided students with first-year scholarships, nursing equipment, nurse’s night, and more. “With their donation, it’s really making it even better,” he said.
Gainey said the day marked a milestone for McLeod Health, fulfilling its $100,000 commitment to the college’s nursing school in 2018. “That really comes from McLeod’s interest in investing in our community and investing in the programs that will continue our mission of improving the health and well-being of citizens in our area.”
“We do value Central Carolina so much and our relationship not just with nursing but with all the different programs we have,” McLeod Health Clarendon Chief Nursing Officer Kimberly Jolly said. “I just think it’s a great partnership between that and the students, and we do hear so often that ‘We want to come to McLeod. McLeod welcomes us with open arms,’ and it’s not just the nursing students who say that.”
Central Carolina President Kevin Pollock said a lot of the work and programs done at the college’s Health Sciences Center couldn’t have been accomplished if it weren’t for community partners like McLeod Health. He was thankful for McLeod Health Clarendon for delivering a donation to the college’s nursing program. “All of the work here, all of the people,” Pollock said, “we’re very appreciative for everything you’ve done.”