Florence, SC school preps students for health care careers

FLORENCE — Students are being trained for a future in health care while surrounded by history.

The home of newly opened Poynor School of Healthcare Innovation building has been part of Florence’s history since the mid-1800s. Now, a partnership between Florence 1 Schools and McLeod Health is ushering in a new era.

After a $16 million, roughly three-year renovation, the 19-classroom school opened in January to specialize in health care education for high school juniors and seniors from Florence County’s largest school district, as well as surrounding areas.

Now full of new health care technology and fixtures, the school still has the original brickwork from stables where students once kept their horses during class, according to Nichole Scipio, the school’s executive director.

“This program is totally different from anything else that the state of South Carolina has going on,” Scipio said.

McLeod Health and Florence 1 Schools first met in 2022 to brainstorm. They wanted to create a health care pipeline by getting high school students ready to become the next generation of professionals.

“The beauty to this partnership between Florence 1 Schools and McLeod is that McLeod’s clinicians and their professionals are coming in (and) training these kids so that they are competent in the skills needed in the future,” Scipio said.

The school offers a curriculum that Charity Gerald, associate vice president of talent strategy for McLeod Health, describes as a “pathway” to entry-level clinician positions. They include focuses like patient care technician, as well as hospitality in health care. More pathways are expected next school year for students interested in clinical medical assistant and pharmacy technician certifications.

“We have all these pathways where high school students can come in, and they can get a credential, a certification that makes them immediately employable upon completion,” Gerald said.

Programs introduce students to multiple areas of study within health care, giving students the chance to explore more than one field. The opportunities could prevent students from realizing they are in the wrong field once they are already in the workforce, Scipio said.

“Our goal is for our students to find their way, to find the pathway that is for them, and each student is different, so we want to address that and embrace that,” Scipio said.

Though the school has only been open to students since early January, Scipio and Gerald are pleased with what they’re seeing inside the classroom.

Students at the Poynor School of Healthcare Innovation have classroom time, but they’re also immersed in skills labs. Designed to look like real hospital rooms, students can train with simulation manikins — life-like, human models.

“(The students) are so excited,” Scipio said. “They come in, they’re smiling. You walk by the classroom, they’re attentive. They’re doing hands on (work). They’re learning professionalism. It is just a totally different environment from the traditional school setting.”

The school has 93 students enrolled with the capacity for roughly 150 students across the 19 classrooms. Plans are to serve Florence 1 Schools and the surrounding school districts at no cost to students, Scipio said in an email.

“The most exciting part for me is paying it forward,” Gerald said. “We are building our local economy. We are building sustainable wages for individuals who live in our community.”

This article has been edited to accurately reflect McLeod Health Associate Vice President of Talent Strategy Charity Gerald’s title.