On Thursday, Aug. 9, staff of the future Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center participated in a day of service throughout the Mint Hill community.

Staff members assisted with a variety of projects at Clear Creek Elementary School, Blessed Assurance, Servant’s Heart, Bright Blessings and the Mint Hill Historical Society.

“This week is the first week we have all the team members together,” Joy Greear, president of the new Mint Hill Medical Center, said.

Along with a way to volunteer and give back to the community, the service day also functioned as a team building exercise for hospital staff, which helped them get to know each other better, Greear said.

She spent time at each volunteer site and while visiting the one at the Mint Hill Historical Society, mentioned that Novant Health had held a service day there in the past as well.

She was happy with the turn out on Aug. 9 and how dedicated the hospital staff was to helping the Mint Hill community. Along with working to complete various tasks, volunteering at the different sites helped the staff learn more about the area. Some who were from Mint Hill even said they were learning things they hadn’t known before, Greear said.

“I think it’s great,” Darrell Love, a public safety officer for the new medical center, who volunteered at the Mint Hill Historical Society site, said.

Throughout the day, he helped layout mulch and complete other landscaping projects for the organization. Though he has since moved away from Mint Hill, when he lived in the area he didn’t know about the Mint Hill Historical Society, but was learning a lot about the organization that day, Love said.

“It’s been pretty exciting. I think the team is really excited about seeing all it has to offer,” Kristin Steinhaus, a nurse manager for the new medical center, said in reference to volunteering at the Mint Hill Historical Society.

Steinhaus added that she felt the work they were doing in the community will help the staff better serve patients by allowing them to know and understand the area better.

Members of the Mint Hill Historical Society said they were happy for the help the Novant Health volunteers offered.

“I think it’s fantastic. They were here a couple of years ago and they made a huge difference,” Stan Davis, president of the Mint Hill Historical Society, said.

The work hospital staff did on Aug 9 allowed the historical society to catch up many needed tasks around the society’s historical village, Davis said.

The Mint Hill Medical Center is planned to open Oct. 1. Hospital staff looks forward to the opening and community events are being planned in September at it for area residents, Greear said.

For more information about the new medical center visit www.novanthealth.org/mint-hill-medical-center.aspx.