News

Eaton donates $20,000 to cancer center

Pictured above: Kim Hinklemen, Catherine Quinn, Dave Mannebach, Jay Kirby and Mike Keenan.

By Emily Stanley, Published: May 27, 2016

On Thursday afternoon, leaders from both Pardee Hospital and the Eaton Corporation came together in the construction site that will soon become Pardee’s new Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Amid the sound of pounding hammers and beeping construction equipment, representatives from the Eaton Corporation presented Pardee leaders with a check for $20,000.
A tour of the building had originally been scheduled, but the construction team’s schedule was so demanding that they could not safely allow visitors to tour the site.
The center, which will provide various cancer services all in one convenient location, will name one of its rooms in honor of Eaton. Mike Keenan, Eaton’s Human Resources Manager, expressed his excitement about the project. “Many of our employees, like the citizens of both Buncombe and Henderson County, really had a distance to travel to get all the appropriate healthcare of value to them to really treat the terrible disease of cancer.”
According to Keenan, Eaton felt compelled to donate to the worthy cause. “We want to make sure that we provide great opportunities, not only for employees and customers, but we have a strong stewardship of the community involvement, and we can’t think of a better way to express our support for our community in which so many of our employees live and work than by supporting a great enterprise like Pardee Hospital.”
Keenan elaborated on what the center’s construction means for the community. “What the Cancer Center’s going to provide is great service, the latest technology, and brilliant people, and just provide their expertise to serve the citizens not only of Hendersonville but of course our own employees, and saving our employees and other citizens the time of traveling out of the area for all the medical services. To have great care in our community is just fabulous for all.”
Pardee’s Major Gifts Officer Jim Brewer explained that everything about the beautiful glass building’s design was planned, including the U-shaped wings. “The arms are reaching out toward the hospital.” Each of the building’s three floors is about 30,000 square feet, with a café on the lower level. The center will serve not only patients in the community but also students from Blue Ridge Community College and Wingate University who are pursuing careers in medicine. “It’s going to be such a major advance in patient care,” Brewer remarked. “We give excellent treatment now, but now everything will be in one place.”
Brewer explained that the plan had come together with the help of the vision of the County Commissioners. He expressed gratitude for Eaton and the other donors who have helped to make that vision a reality. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to remember someone, or to honor someone, to to be a part of something that is going to save and help thousands of people. The center is expected to be in operation for twenty-five years. It would be great if we run out of business after that, but there will always be cancer. We’re really excited for what it means for the community. It’s really built for the community, so people don’t have to leave.”