Rock Hill region offering new options to become nurses, work in health related jobs
There’s one occupation with far more openings than any other job in the region. There’s also a growing list of programs to help workers get those jobs.
This fall, Clinton College in Rock Hill begins a new nursing degree program. It’s the second one offered by an historically Black college in South Carolina, according to a spring announcement by the school.
“With the launch of our new nursing program, we hope to enroll and produce a diverse population of nurses to address the national nursing shortage,” Clinton president Lester McCorn said in that announcement, which also included a new healthcare administration degree.
Last year, York Technical College cited a need for expanded healthcare programs as part of the reason for a facilities feasibility study and requested upgrades at the Baxter Hood Center. York Tech offers a nursing degree, as does USC Lancaster.
Laurel Institute of Technology opened a new healthcare educational facility on Ben Casey Drive in Fort Mill.
The family of technical schools with sites in Pennsylvania and West Virginia will begin its first cardiovascular technology degree, a 16-month degree program with day and night offerings, this fall.
Laurel Institutes has a healthcare school with a variety of options, including nursing.
“We opened a school in Fort Mill because we learned that healthcare providers in the area are specifically in need of more trained allied health professionals,” Laurel Institutes President Nancy Decker said in announcing the new school.
Decker said there’s excitement in the rapidly expanding York County area but that more healthcare workers are needed. It’s a scenario here and beyond.
“Employers in the medical community can’t find enough qualified employees to fill all of their openings,” Decker said.
Need for nurses
Data from the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce highlights the need for nursing programs.
York, Lancaster and Chester counties make up the Catawba workforce development area. It’s one of a dozen workforce regions statewide. As of May, the Catawba region had more than 10,500 job openings. No single occupation had as many openings as registered nurses.
The 489 registered nurse openings is twice as many as any other single occupation. There are another 120 openings for licensed practical or vocational nurses, 110 openings for medical and health service managers and 105 openings for nursing assistants.
State data shows there are more than 14,500 healthcare and social assistance jobs in the region. Only manufacturing and retail (more than 17,600 each) have more. Healthcare and social assistance jobs here pay an average of more than $57,000 per year.
The state workforce department estimates the need for healthcare and social assistance workers will increase from 2018 to 2028 by more than 17%, or more than 2,200 total jobs.
SCDEW also lists Piedmont Medical Center as one of the 20 largest employers in the Catawba region. Piedmont is top 20 in York County, while the Medical University of South Carolina is a top 20 employer in both Lancaster and Chester counties. Atrium Health is top 20 in Lancaster County, as is Rehab Employee Services in Chester County.
All three counties, individually, have registered nurses as the clear leader in job openings led by the 290 positions alone in York County.
More people, more patients
Increased need for healthcare comes from two obvious facts. There are more people here than ever before. Those people are older than they’ve ever been.
Recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates show York County grew by more than 12,000 people from the 2020 Census to mid-2022. It’s an addition of almost the population of Tega Cay or Lake Wylie in a two-year span. The more than 68,000 additional people since 2010 could fill every seat in District 3 Stadium in Rock Hill almost eight times.
Lancaster County has an even higher growth rate of almost 9% in two years. It’s almost 9,000 more people in that span.
New census data shows Fort Mill area is among fastest growing in the Carolinas
Census projections also show more older residents in the Rock Hill region.
The median age of York County residents is 39.5 years old, about half a year older than it was in 2020. Lancaster and Chester county residents are a little older at about 42 years each on median age. Those figures are largely constant since 2020.
York County has an estimated 45,639 age 65 or older. For perspective, Chester County has fewer than 32,000 total residents. York County had about 3,500 more seniors last year than it did just two years prior.
The 22,787 Lancaster County seniors last year is up more than 2,000 people in two years. Chester County only had 6,296 residents 65 and older last year, but that number still increased by more than 200 people in two years.
All those people create healthcare demand. Piedmont opened a new Fort Mill hospital last year after years of state back-and-forth on which company would get to build it, prompting questions whether the 100-bed facility envisioned more than a decade ago would be enough for the burgeoning town. Prior to the hospital, Piedmont opened a freestanding emergency room off Gold Hill Road to meet demand.
Encompass Health applied to put a new rehabilitation hospital off Pleasant Road in Fort Mill. In Lancaster County, MUSC has plans for a new Indian Land hospital. Those large projects don’t include countless new medical offices and services throughout the area. On Tuesday, MUSC cuts ribbon on a new orthopedic and sports medicine clinic in Indian Land.
All while the entire state looks for nurses. According to a report in the State newspaper earlier this year, South Carolina has the fourth highest per capita nurse shortage in the country and the state could need 10,000 more nurses than it has by 2030.
