McLeod Health recognizes achievements

Even Dr. F.H. McLeod would have a difficult time recognizing the towering legacy that would result from the first steps he took more than a century ago to provide Florence with better medical care.
But today’s McLeod Regional Medical Center campus is a testament to his imagination and effort in June 1906, and the many other medical providers who have followed the same path to help make the facility what it is today.
McLeod Health President Rob Colones said he and his staff have spent the past year recognizing these achievements through a series of special events designed to commemorate the facilitiy’s evolution.
“We’ve tried to remember those who have come before us and dedicated themselves to the mission and values of McLeod — the values of caring, the person, quality and integrity,” he said.
One of these recognitions involved working with Habitat for Humanity.
“Those were opportunities for us to reflect upon throughout the year on what the organization means to each other and the community in the way of service,” Colones said.
McLeod has had many milestones since its founding as an infirmary to the later building of the main hospital tower, women’s pavilion and, most recently, the completion of the pavilion tower expansion. Other smaller, but important steps include the establishment of McLeod Hospice and a center for advanced surgery, as well as additional hospital services provided in Darlington and Dillon counties.
The tower expansion’s patient rooms will alleviate some of the patient overcrowding experienced in the past.
But the drive for improvements isn’t only in the acquisition of new medical technologies. All that is useless without the doctors and nurses who can put the technology to the best use for patients.
“We live in a rural part of South Carolina and have a shortage of both nurses and physicians,” he said. “Attracting that talent to this region and growing it right here is probably the biggest improvement in health that could be made going forward. We sit in an underserved area.”
Also helping McLeod look ahead is a project involving a five-year master plan that will oversee the future of the hospital from 2007 to 2012. It will focus on McLeod’s centers for excellence, especially in the cardiac and cancer care areas in order to broaden those services within the community.
“We’re focused on being the choice of medical excellence for our physicians and making sure this is a good place to practice medicine,” Colones said.