A new $25-million hospital in West Memphis is expected to open in early-to-mid 2018 and as far as almost everyone in the area is concerned, the ribbon cutting can’t come soon enough.
The September groundbreaking for Baptist Memorial Hospital-Crittenden County was indeed welcome news for those living in the vicinity. The closing of Crittenden Regional Hospital two years earlier was a major blow, not only to healthcare access, but also to the local economy.
“More than 400 people lost their jobs,” said Aaron Mitchell, MD, MBA, of Mitchell Family Medicine in nearby Marion. He called the closing a “horrible tragedy.”
Many physicians – specialists and primary care doctors – left.
“They sought jobs somewhere else. Those of us who remained have more of a burden to take care of the patients,” he said.
According to Mitchell, the situation put a strain on the healthcare community as well as patients who were forced to find healthcare elsewhere. He said there was practically no easy access to medical care and the lack of services caused many to suffer unnecessarily.
One major concern was there is almost no equipment needed for emergencies in the entire county—not even a CT scanner.
“God forbid there is a tragic accident on the bridge to Memphis,” Mitchell said. “We fear people would lose their lives due to lack of access to medical care. I am absolutely thrilled that Baptist is coming. There is a huge need for emergency services and for short-term hospital stays on this side of the bridge.”
Baptist will be responsible for the day-to-day hospital operations and will employ the facility’s staff.
Edward G. Bryant Jr., MD, an ophthalmologist with the West Memphis Eye Center and past president of Arkansas Medical Society, said the new hospital is positive overall for the community.
“Closing of the old hospital has hurt the community,” Bryant said. “It is particularly difficult for elderly patients. It is extremely hard on the nursing homes, and we have a pretty big nursing home population in West Memphis. Nursing home residents often need to go to the hospital for short stays. Going to Methodist University Central for common community-based urinary tract infections or pneumonia is difficult for families. Those are big hospitals where parking is hard and there is a lot of traffic congestion.”
Methodist University Central is the closest hospital to West Memphis. But Bryant said while it doesn’t look far on a map, it can take quite a while because of traffic, requiring perhaps an hour or longer for patients going to a Memphis hospitals farther than Methodist Central, such as Baptist DeSoto, Methodist North and Baptist East.
“Another problem is that ambulance systems are over-burdened because of the need to make runs to Memphis,” Bryant continued. “Ambulances are tied up over there loading and unloading.”
Bryant said many doctors are disappointed that the new hospital won’t provide obstetrics services.
“But they said over time, if they can show a need for obstetrics, they will probably incorporate it,” Bryant said.
Brian Welton, who has been named the CEO and administrator of the new hospital, said in addition to a $25-million investment paid for by the taxpayers, Baptist is also making a large investment in the project.
“We paid for the property and will likely use existing equipment from other facilities like Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in Oxford to help reduce some of the expenses,” Welton said. “The hospital will have an emergency room (ER), inpatient beds, cancer services, diagnostic imaging, a lab, etc. We are estimating around 23,000 visits to the ER per year. This can provide life-saving intervention, along with more basic emergency services to this community.”
Crittenden County taxpayers voted to approve an existing one percent, five-year sales tax to build the hospital. Taxes are expected to generate about $25 million. Since money is needed now for construction, the county is taking out $25 million in bonds to pay for construction. Welton said if tax revenue exceeds that amount at the end of five years, those funds will be used to pay for equipment and other expenses.
Crittenden County has a population of about 51,000 with about 25,545 of those located in West Memphis.
For more information, go online to: Baptist Memorial Health Care, http://www.baptistonline.org/