Greenville Technical College celebrated the official opening of the Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences today, cutting ribbon on the 137,000 square-foot-facility with the help of college and Prisma Health leaders, elected officials, faculty and staff, students, and those who designed and built the facility including McMillan Pazdan Smith, JMZ, and Harper General Contractors.
The largest facility on any of the college’s four campuses and four special educational centers, the Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences will serve as a hub at the heart of campus, impacting 90 percent of Greenville Technical College students with general education requirements, welcoming 150,000 visitors annually, and serving all of the 500-600 health science graduates that the college contributes to the local workforce each year.
The facility has been named the Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences thanks to a $1.5 million gift from the state’s largest health care organization and the number one employer of Greenville Technical College graduates. Prisma Health has partnered with the college for decades to create well-qualified professionals to enter the healthcare field and provide the highest quality patient care once they complete programs in nursing and the allied health fields.
“Prisma Health and Greenville Technical College are committed to making an impact in our community by attracting, preparing and retaining the health care workforce of the future,” said Dr. Jonathan Gleason, Chief Clinical Officer for Prisma Health. “Now, with the opening of the Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences, the future looks even brighter. Thanks to the college’s partnership, the center will be a driving force in shaping not only our workforce, but the health of our community.”
In addition, many donations are funding named spaces within the building. Contributions to the facility have come from Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, the F.W. Symmes Foundation, Harper General Contractors, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative honoring board member Kenneth Southerlin, the GTC President’s Cabinet, Caroline McIntyre and Sally Potosky, the Bosch Community Fund, Mike and Susan Cinquemani dedicated to Mark Yocono, MD, Steve Valand -- dean of Health Sciences at the college from1986 to 2004, and T&S Brass.
“We are grateful to Prisma Health for partnering with us to create the health care workforce of the future. This innovative new facility is designed so that learning is on display, inviting visitors, potential students, and those who are undecided on a college major to view the education taking place and to enter the innovative space as a learner,” said Dr. Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College.
That learning-on-display concept inspired many of the facility’s architectural details. Just as the scientific devices used in the classrooms look inside bodies and cells to see functions, the building’s pipes, duct work, and other infrastructure are exposed so that students, staff, and visitors can see the facility’s inner works.
A think tank room is designed for brainstorming and planning. The room features lounge seating, a touch screen wall, and glass whiteboards.
Spaces invite students to come together between classes with stations where they can study, places where they can collaborate, lounges where they can gather, and a café where they can grab a beverage or enjoy a meal.
Harper General Contractors brought the architectural vision to life over a period of almost two years, staying on schedule and within budget to complete the three-story building in time for Fall Semester 2024 classes. Working with arborists, care was taken to relocate 12 trees that needed to be moved for construction. Only one tree had to be sacrificed and will soon be featured in the building lobby with rings exposed that date the tree to the college’s opening in 1962.
Classes will be held in the building when Fall Semester begins on August 26. Learning spaces include an Anatomage Lab with virtual dissection tables and suites for medical imaging, ultrasound, radiological technology, and more.