(COLUMBIA) - A $21 million grant coming to South Carolina should eventually save lives and could put the state in the forefront of patient care nationally and internationally. The money will be matched by an equal amount of state funds to establish the Center of Healthcare Quality and Clinical Effectiveness.

"Our research will really be targeted on improving patient safety and effectiveness of care, and we hope that this will be a model for other states to follow," said Dr. Ray Greenberg, president of the Medical University of South Carolina and chairman of Health Sciences South Carolina, the group that was awarded the grant.

Health Sciences South Carolina is an effort by MUSC, USC, Clemson, the Greenville Hospital System, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System and Palmetto Health to work together to share information and attract major grants and researchers.

"This is all about the patient; patient quality, safety and really getting that research and moving it closer to the patient," says Michael Riordan, new president and CEO of the Greenville Hospital System. "So it means a lot to the patients in the Upstate and all of South Carolina."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 90,000 Americans a year die from infections they get while they're in the hospital.

16-year-old Jimmy Toolen, Jr. of Sumter was almost one of them. In March of 2005, he went into the hospital for out-patient knee surgery. He later developed a staph infection, his parents say either from a dirty surgical instrument or a doctor or nurse who didn't wash their hands thoroughly enough.

"He's had 5 surgeries because of the damage that the infection did," says his mother, Lisa. "It ate his bones."

Jimmy was hoping to play high school football and baseball. He had won his local Punt, Pass and Kick competition as a child and loved baseball, too. Now? "I can barely walk that good," he says. Shaking his head at the thought of what's happened to him because of the infection, he adds, "It ruined me."

His mother says, "We thought several times we were going to lose him last year. And we also were worried that we were, he was going to face losing his leg. And we were devastated." It's still possible that his leg might have to be amputated, she says. This is exactly the kind of situation the new grant will try to prevent.

Duke Endowment chairman Russell Robinson, II says, "Regrettably and unavoidably, there are mistakes and hospital-related infections. And mistakes are, nationally, a leading cause of death. That needs to be addressed and the quality of care and clinical effectiveness needs to be addressed, and this grant will do that."

Jimmy says the grant sounds like a great idea, and he hopes research done because of it will prevent others from going through what he has.

"It's just real hard to deal with," he says. "A 16-year-old getting told that his leg could be cut off due to something that could've been prevented real easy."