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FLORENCE, S.C. (July 22, 2026) – MUSC Health officially broke ground on the future MUSC Hollings Cancer Center at Florence Medical Center, marking a significant milestone in expanding access to comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care for patients across the Pee Dee and northeastern South Carolina.

Expected to open in Winter 2027, the new cancer center will be a three-story 63,000-square-foot facility located on the MUSC Health Florence Medical Center campus. The facility will serve as a regional hub for advanced cancer care, extending the reach of South Carolina’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center.

The MUSC Hollings Cancer Center at Florence Medical Center will bring together a comprehensive range of cancer services under one roof, including medical oncology, radiation therapy and infusion therapy. The facility will also provide patients access to clinical trials, research opportunities and specialized therapies, allowing more individuals to receive innovative cancer care close to home.

The groundbreaking represents the next phase of MUSC Health Florence Medical Center’s integration into the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. Through this network, local physicians and patients gain access to nationally recognized cancer expertise, groundbreaking research, innovative treatments and expanded clinical trial opportunities.

“Today’s groundbreaking marks a transformational moment for healthcare in the Pee Dee,” said Jason Cox, MUSC Health-Pee Dee Division interim CEO and COO. “The MUSC Hollings Cancer Center at Florence Medical Center will bring nationally recognized cancer expertise, advanced treatments and groundbreaking clinical research closer to the patients and families who need them most.”

The center is designed to create a seamless continuum of care for patients at every stage of their cancer journey, beginning with screening and diagnosis and continuing through treatment, survivorship and supportive care. By bringing together multidisciplinary cancer services in a dedicated facility, MUSC Health aims to enhance patient convenience, improve coordination among care teams and expand access to emerging therapies.

The new facility also reflects MUSC Health’s commitment to increasing participation in cancer research and clinical trials across the state. Through the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, patients in the Pee Dee will have greater opportunities to participate in studies evaluating promising new treatments and therapies that may not otherwise be available in community settings.

“As South Carolina’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center is committed to ensuring that patients throughout the state have access to the most advanced cancer treatments and clinical trials available,” said Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., Hollings Cancer Center director. “This new facility extends that mission by bringing innovative therapies, leading-edge research and multidisciplinary expertise directly to the Pee Dee so more patients can receive exceptional cancer care close to home.”

The MUSC Health Hollings Cancer Center at Florence Medical Center is expected to become a cornerstone of cancer care delivery in the region, furthering MUSC Health’s mission to improve health outcomes and expand access to high-quality, compassionate care for all South Carolinians.

### About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the state’s only comprehensive academic health system, with a mission to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates nearly 3,500 students in six colleges and trains more than 1,060 residents and fellows across its health system. MUSC leads the state in research funding from the National Institutes of Health, including National Institute of General Medical Sciences COBRE awards. For information on our academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the health care system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and safest patient care while educating and training generations of outstanding health care providers and leaders to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. In 2025, for the 11th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health University Medical Center in Charleston the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC has a total enterprise annual operating budget of $10.1 billion. The more than 36,200 MUSC members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, contract employees, affiliates and care team members who deliver groundbreaking education, research and patient care.

About MUSC Hollings Cancer Center

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center is South Carolina’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center with the largest academic-based cancer research program in the state. With more than 150 faculty cancer scientists and 20 academic departments, it has an annual research funding portfolio of more than $50 million and sponsors more than 200 clinical trials across the state. Hollings offers state-of-the-art cancer screenings, diagnostic capabilities, therapies and surgical techniques within its multidisciplinary clinics to provide the full range of cancer care. Dedicated to preventing and reducing the cancer burden statewide, the Hollings Office of Community Outreach and Engagement works with community organizations to bring cancer education and prevention information to affected populations. For more information visit, hollingscancercenter.musc.edu.

FLORENCE – At Victors, a downtown Florence restaurant, an Italian winemaker with noble ties laughed with a local farmer, and they discussed the hard work of growing food.

Count Sebastiano Capponi is the owner and wine producer of Villa Calcinaia, a 500-year-old estate just outside of Florence, Italy. He often travels to the U.S. to visit restaurants that serve his estate’s luxury, organic wines.

Victors and Executive Chef Shelby Griffin welcomed him with a five-course dinner reception the evening of Sept. 20, pairing his Italian wines with traditional Southern flavors.

“Good evening, Florentines. I'm also Florentine,” Capponi said as he welcomed diners.

Capponi’s family once helped rule the city of Florence for 400 years before the Medici, a powerful dynasty, conquered the city in the 15th century, he told the crowd.

During the dinner, he visited each table in the restaurant, shaking hands with the men and kissing the hands of women in a traditional Italian greeting.

Tickets for the five-course event cost $165, and local farmers whose crops were used to prepare the dishes were invited to attend. The dinner featured ingredients from Rebecca Farms, Marsh Hen Mill, GroWild Acres and Ellerbe Farms.

Harold Ellerbe grew the corn used in the sweet corn panna cotta. Similar to Capponi, he is following in his father’s footsteps of being a farmer. Ellerbe said he was moved by the appreciation shown to both him and the wine maker.

“It lets me know that we're all connected, no matter where we're from. We're all connected in what we do,” Ellerbe said. “I have no experience with growing wine, and the wine vintner probably has no experience with growing corn, but together we can blend our talents together and produce something that people enjoy, and that's what it's all about.”

Ellerbe also noted that it’s community appreciation, such as what was shown by Victors’s invitation, that motivates him to continue planting year after year. It is recognition, he said, that society did not always give.

“It's a lot different than what my dad probably could have expected, and he did the exact same thing,” Ellerbe said. “It brings me to a point of where we have come as a society, as a community, that we honor the ones that grow our food. My dad's been gone for 28 years, and I know he would be proud of where we are.”

Capponi introduced each of the five wines as they were served, walking between tables with a paper map and telling the story behind each name, which were all tied to his family history.

For example, the first course was paired with Mauvais Chapon Brut, a sparkling wine named after an insult hurled at Capponi’s ancestor by the king of France.

“Florence in 1494 was besieged by the French troops, and the king of France had requested a series of demands to relieve the city from the siege,” Capponi said. “And the Republic of Florence appointed my ancestor, Piero Capponi, to go and parley with the king.”

However, his ancestor ripped up the contract the king presented – a scene immortalized in a statue on the facade of the Uffizi Gallery, one of Italy’s most visited art museums.

According to Capponi, the king then called Piero “a naughty Chapon,” the French version of his last name that means “the castrated rooster.”

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FLORENCE — The city of Florence is creating a new role to help manage its water utilities.

Sarah Hickman, a Francis Marion University graduate, was announced as the water resource director, according to a press release.

Hickman is a Florence native and graduate of South Florence High School. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and later completed a master of science in environmental science from Webster University.

The position is new to the city, according to City Manager Scotty Davis.

The job was created to take a burden off the city’s utilities director who previously managed stormwater, sewer and water utilities, according to Davis.

Hickman will now focus her concentration on the water utility, allowing the utilities director to focus on storm water and sewer separately.

“I think the utility has gotten a little bit too large to be confined to one person, so bringing in additional personnel there — a highly professional person — will help that throughout the processes of all the utilities,” Davis said.

Davis said the city has been searching for a qualified candidate for the new role for more than a year.

The water resource director will be responsible for overseeing water production operations at both surface water and groundwater treatment plants, with a primary focus on ensuring the delivery of reliable and consistently high-quality water for city customers, according to Davis.

Hickman has more than 17 years of experience in the water and wastewater industry, the release said. She has had a career in environmental compliance, laboratory management and utility operations.

Hickman served as laboratory manager for the City of Columbia Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant, the largest wastewater treatment facility in South Carolina, from 2014 to 2020.

In her role, she collaborated on the city's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency consent decree, led laboratory data collection supporting multi-million-dollar capital improvement projects and managed the laboratory budget.

Hickman also has experience developing requests for proposals and laboratory bid specifications, hiring and training laboratory personnel, preparing employees for certification testing and overseeing all laboratory operations.

In 2020, Hickman relocated to South Carolina's Lowcountry and joined the Hilton Head Public Service District as water quality supervisor, serving through June 2026. Her responsibilities included overseeing the daily operation of the water quality laboratory, ensuring regulatory compliance, addressing customer concerns related to water quality and training new operators.

Hickman has earned numerous professional certifications and recognition throughout her career, including Class A Water Operator, Class A Water Distribution Operator, Class A Wastewater Operator and the 2024 SC Water Environment Association Crystal Crucible State Award for Excellence in Water Laboratory Operations.

Hickman also represented the U.S. at the 2024 International Federation of Alternative (Environmental) Trade World Competition in Munich, Germany, earning first place in wastewater process control and a silver medal for overall performance in the wastewater professional category.

Hickman most recently received the 2025 South Carolina Department of Environmental Services Laboratory Excellence Award.

Hickman started working with the city the last week in June, Davis said.

The city has recently had an increased interest in its water projects, Davis previously told The Post and Courier.

A sewage leak in March polluted a Florence creek and created a noticeable odor through high-traffic areas of the city.

FLORENCE — Construction will soon be underway on Florence County’s museum expansion.

The museum as it currently stands has served the county since 2014, presenting traveling exhibitions on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Gibbes Museum of Charleston, all at zero cost to visitors.

In the last two years, the Florence museum has welcomed 20,000 visitors and hosted 157 tours.

The museum will close temporarily for a $15 million expansion that will bring a variety of functional improvements to enhance the visitor experience while also accommodating growing demand, according to a news release.

The museum will gain two new galleries on the second floor, totaling approximately 4,500 square feet of additional exhibit space. One gallery will be dedicated to exhibiting works related to the life of Florence native the late-William Henry Johnson, drawing on works in the museum’s permanent collection and loans from adjacent institutions.

Beginning in 2028, Johnson is expected to become the subject of international focus as major art institutions in the United States, Denmark and Norway host landmark exhibitions highlighting his contributions to 20th-century art.

The second new gallery will showcase art from the museum's growing permanent collection. Together, these galleries will be the museum's first spaces dedicated to exhibiting art from its own holdings and will serve a unique function alongside the museum’s three existing exhibit spaces that often feature holdings from outside the museum’s collections, the release said.

Florence County has partnered with McMillan, Pazdan, and Smith Architecture of Columbia to design the expansion. Collins & Almers Architecture of Florence, which assisted in overseeing the facility's initial construction in 2014, is serving as the local architectural liaison.

Thompson Turner Construction of Sumter will provide construction services. Haley Sharpe, who was also involved in the facility's original exhibit design in 2014, has been contracted to provide exhibit design services for the renovated Pee Dee History Gallery.

The expansion will also add educational space on both floors: an entry and staging area on the first floor to accommodate school and community group tours; and a second classroom on the second floor to expand capacity for tour and educational programming.

A U-shaped, interior walkway on the second floor will also be introduced to improve circulation, along with new space for collection storage and staff offices.

The $15 million project will begin Aug. 1 and is scheduled to continue through October 2027, according to the release.

The museum will remain open to the public during construction, but sections of the building will close as needed throughout the project.

The museum will officially close to the public in October 2027 to allow time for the installation of new exhibits and preparation of the renovated facility.

A public unveiling event celebrating the museum's redesigned and expanded galleries is planned for the first quarter of 2028.

Starting Aug. 1, the small parking lot directly west of the museum (accessed from Cheves Street) will be closed and will remain closed through October 2027. During this time, museum guests can find nearby parking in the Emerson Garage, located west of the museum, accessible via Irby or Dargan Street. Through-access between the back of the museum and the Waters Building (accessed from Dargan Street) will remain open throughout construction. Parking along Dargan Street will also remain open during construction.