CenterPoint Energy will present $25,000 Feb. 2 to KC for use in completion of new nursing education facility
Representatives from CenterPoint Energy will be on the Kilgore campus Feb. 2 to present Kilgore College with a $25,000 check to use for completion of the new, state-of-the-art facility planned at the old Roy H. Laird Memorial Hospital.
The check presentation is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, in the McLaurin Administration Building. The media and the local community are invited to attend.
Christus Good Shepherd, the Roy H. Laird Memorial Hospital Foundation, the City of Kilgore and KC are all collaborating on the development of the new facility, to be called the Roy H. Laird Medical Center.
The center will include new teaching and lab space for KC, as well as an expansion of Christus Good Shepherd’s footprint near the existing Emergency Center to provide more health care services and health education opportunities.
The donation from CenterPoint Energy will further supplement the costs to create KC’s new teaching facility at the center.
“CenterPoint Energy is proud to partner with Kilgore College on such an important community project,” said John Seale, district director for CenterPoint Energy. “This project will provide critical health services to the surrounding community while training the next generation of medical personnel.”
KC officials said, thanks to benefactors such as CenterPoint Energy, the new center “will create a student experience like none other for health science students” with nursing, physical therapy, medical imaging and other health science students serving patients while being taught in a real-life, clinical setting.
“Where university teaching hospitals graduate doctors, the center will graduate the supporting professionals for improved medical outcomes for the entire East Texas community,” Kilgore College President Brenda Kays said. “We are so thankful to CenterPoint Energy for this generous donation to help make this dream a reality.”
Construction of the center will be funded in part by a $2.5 million Economic Development Assistance Grant, revenues from the Center, funding from the Hospital Foundation, and other revenues.
The original hospital building opened 70 years ago and served the Kilgore area until 2007. Since then, the campus has hosted a variety of tenants but also remained mostly vacant since 2018.
Christus Good Shepherd President and CEO Todd Hancock said the hospital system was looking forward to designing a “phenomenal, integrated healthcare campus in the heart of Kilgore.”
CenterPoint representatives attending the check presentation:
- Trina Loftin – Executive Assistant
- Glenda Jackson – Senior Administrative Assistant
- John Seale – District Director
- Kim Davis – Community Relations
- Tom Moore – Community Relations Manager
- Phillip Green – Area Manager
- Kevin Luman – Operations Supervisor
- Claude Figueroa – Senior Marketing Consultant
About CenterPoint Energy:
As the only investor-owned electric and gas utility based in Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is an energy delivery company with electric transmission and distribution, power generation and natural gas distribution operations that serve more than 6 million metered customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas. The CenterPoint Energy Foundation is a charitable giving organization focused on strengthening the quality of life in the communities served by the company. For more information, visit www.CenterPointEnergy.com.