New AnMed Facility to Expand TCTC Nursing Training

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

AnMed announced Tuesday plans to build a 30,000-square-foot education center beside AnMed Medical Center to expand nurse training through a partnership with Tri-County Technical College as South Carolina faces a shortage of nurses.

Construction is under way on the two-story AnMed Education and Innovation Center at 610 North St., near East Greenville Street. The facility will provide clinical classrooms, collaborative workspaces and administrative space to support the college’s Associate Degree in Nursing program.

Tri-County Technical College consistently has a waiting list for the program and currently accepts 60 nursing students per semester, or 120 per academic year. According to AnMed’s announcement, the partnership is expected to add 100 students within five years, bringing the number across the college’s learning sites to 220.

“No one organization can solve this challenge alone,” TCTC President Galen DeHay said in a statement. “It takes strong partnerships between healthcare providers and educational institutions who are willing to invest in the future of our region’s workforce.”

South Carolina had about 12,000 fewer nurses than it needed as of last December, according to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The shortage is projected to narrow to 7,250 by 2038, but the state would still have one of the largest nursing workforce deficits in the country. Health care providers have advertised more than 2,000 nursing job openings in South Carolina in recent months, according to AnMed.

The center’s entire first floor will be dedicated to the college’s expanded nursing program. Plans include classrooms, a computer lab, simulation debriefing and review rooms, support spaces and two patient simulation rooms equipped with medical headwalls.

The simulation rooms will support training in medical-surgical care, critical care, labor and delivery, emergency care, perioperative care and behavioral health, according to AnMed.

Students will complete clinical rotations at the hospital and have opportunities for paid part-time employment and mentorship from experienced health care providers.

Two AnMed nurses, Samantha Blackwood and Allison Foster, will serve as the expanded program’s inaugural adjunct clinical instructors. Blackwood has nine years of medical-surgical nursing experience, and Foster has 30 years of experience in telemetry nursing, according to the health system.

“This partnership is about building the future of nursing from within our own community,” AnMed Chief Nursing Officer Shaunda Trotter said in a statement. “By connecting students directly with our caregivers and clearing their path into practice, we are creating a stronger, more sustainable workforce.”

Trotter said the program will expand opportunities for students while helping AnMed meet growing demand for skilled nurses and improve patient care.

AnMed CEO William Kenley said the center will combine technology, training space and institutional partnerships to strengthen clinical education and workforce development.

“This center will bring those elements together in a way that strengthens clinical education, supports workforce development and creates new opportunities for students and professionals throughout our region,” Kenley said in a statement.

AnMed did not disclose the project’s cost or provide an opening date.

The partnership builds on AnMed’s existing relationships with colleges and other organizations offering physician training, bachelor’s degree-level nursing education and programs for physical therapists, radiologic technologists and other health care professionals. Those programs also connect students with potential employment at AnMed.

AnMed is an independent, nonprofit regional health system serving South Carolina’s Upstate and northeast Georgia, with 648 beds across four hospitals and employs more than 4,000 people, including 742 doctors.

Its Piedmont campus and freestanding emergency department opened in 2025. A new campus serving Clemson and Central is under construction.