Mississippi kids Renovation of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders began this week inside the Blair E. Batson Tower in The University of Mississippi Medical Center.
The funding began with a $1.5 million donation from Pat and Jim Coggin of Jackson, whose daughter was treated at UMMC when she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.
“Outstanding care is exceptionally good at UMMC, but so are limitations,” Coggins said. “We were looking for a way to give back to our community and when this opportunity came our way, we felt like it was the right thing to do.”
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The entire project will cost more than $5 million and renovations will begin next year, officials said.
Dr. Mary B. Taylor said UMMC has state-of-the-art care and services, but the facilities haven’t matched care for quite some time, prompting the need for renovations.
“We want to give parents and kids a great experience no matter where they are on campus,” said Taylor. “This is the first stage and phase of renovation of the Batson Tower.
“Our hope is to do this floor-by-floor renovation to bring another level of comfort to our families. We are the only pediatric emergency room in the state and we take pride in that.”
Renovations include remodeling the waiting area and expanding the operating rooms to increase their capacity to handle pediatric patients.
Updates to the Batson center will reflect the Kathy and Joe Sanderson tower connection at UMMC.
Officials said patients will continue to receive care during the construction process. The clinic space will be temporarily moved to Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants during construction.
Dr. Anderson B. Collier III, Division Chief of UMMC, is responsible for children receiving treatment at UMMC.
“We started with just a few ideas until the Coggins stepped up and offered to donate a substantial amount for the renovations,” Collier said. “The mission to renovate the center began five years ago when I took over as division chief.
“The renovations will triple the size of the center’s infusion room and redesign it to provide more privacy for patients and increase the number of exam rooms from the current eight to 14.”
Collier also thanked his staff.
Since UMMC is the only pediatric emergency room in the state, the number of patients they see is continually increasing, officials said.
“Usually we see 900 to 950 children with sickle cell disease and other diseases as well,” Collier said. “The center opened in 1991, but now includes two patient care towers. Here at UMMC, we provide state-of-the-art sickle cell treatment, inpatient and outpatient infusions, and bone marrow transplants.
“Medicine has changed and the way we distribute medicine has changed. Our infusion rooms currently treat 12-15 patients, but we are expanding our rooms as part of the renovation to treat more patients with faster turnaround time.” “.
Guy Giesecke, CEO of Children’s of Mississippi said without the Coggin family’s $1.5 million donation, $500,000 from the Junior League of Jackson, $100,000 from Phil and Melissa Hanberry of Hattiesburg through the Giving Grace Fund and $250,000 from Friends of Children’s Hospital , the renovation would not have been carried out.
“We see a need to expand our cancer center and there is no better place to do it than the Batson Tower,” Giesecke said. “The facility has done amazing work for children across the state for many years.
“Design-wise, we challenged each other to make the new facility just as reliable for the next 20 years.”