Sun Staff Writer

On Monday, September 25, a historic event took place as Baptist Health Systems Inc. began the countdown to its 100th anniversary with construction of a new tower located on the west side of Baptist Medical Center.

This will be the fifth tower added to Baptist Medical Center.

Doctors, nurses and staff from Baptist Women’s Services and Baptist Heart Services took part in a groundbreaking service for the new tower.

A 205,000 square foot, six level tower will be constructed in that location. The medical center’s number of beds will remain the same at 649. There will be dedicated entrances for both the women’s and heart hospitals.

“We will be streamlining those two product lines and making access to care easier for patients, visitors and physicians,” said Robby Channell from Baptist Health System’s Corporate Communications.

The new tower is expected to be completed in 2008, with an estimated construction cost of $40 million.

This is the first major hospital building project since the completion of the present medical center 30 years ago.

When the tower is complete, it will have been 100 years since two physicians started the hospital that eventually became Baptist.

Channell said, “In 1908, two Jackson physicians opened a clinic at the corner of Manship and North State streets that became Mississippi Baptist Hospital, Jackson’s first hospital. Construction of the new tower will be completed in September 2008 commemorating the 100th year a hospital will have been in this location.”

To celebrate this new construction and the 100 years of work, the groundbreaking was highlighted by a ceremony of “100 Lights.”

The 100 lights were carried by physicians, board of trustee members, retirees, current staff and former patients. The ceremony represents passing the torch of excellence in healthcare from one generation to the next, according to Channell.

“The ‘100’ represents the fact that when this building is completed in 2008, we will begin the countdown to Baptist’s 100 year anniversary. The ‘lights’ they carry represent passing the torch of excellence in healthcare from one generation to the next. The 100 people have played an important part of the life of Baptist Health Systems,” he continued.

Special guests on hand for the ceremony included the physician who performed Baptist’s first open heart surgery in 1971 and his patient.

Dr. Thomas Kilgore performed this surgery on Ed Harris. Both were present at the groundbreaking ceremony, according to Channell.

“Ed tells us that he remembers very well the skill of the doctors, the compassion of the nurses and the competence of the staff. To this day, he says he can vividly remember the concern they all had for his well-being and the success of his operation,” said Channell.

Also present were approximately 90 current employees and physicians who were at Baptist when the medical center moved from its location across the street from the current location 30 years ago.

Mrs. Janet Shands and her daughters, Nancy and Susan were on hand for the celebration to represent the founding families. Mrs. Shands’s father-in-law, Dr. Harley Shands, was one of the two physicians that opened Jackson’s first hospital in 1908.

Other special guests also joined the celebration of a new addition to the hospital.