Children will soon be receiving care at the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s (UMMC) seven-story pediatric hospital expansion thanks to help from philanthropists from the northeast Jackson area and around the state.
The Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi more than doubles the square-footage of pediatric hospital space at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. It will join the Blair E. Batson Tower, named for UMMC’s first pediatrics chair, as an integral part of the state’s only children’s hospital.
The expansion will be open to patients in early November. A virtual ribbon-cutting was held October 13.
In 2016, the Sandersons launched the Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi, the philanthropic drive to help fund the expansion, with a $10 million personal gift and are chairing the effort. So far, the campaign has raised more than 83 percent of its $100 million goal.
“There is no more fitting name for this children’s hospital expansion than the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. “Without their leadership, generosity and care for the children and families of Mississippi, this expansion would still be on the drawing board.”
The campaign has been aided by Northsiders who have given generously toward the project. The Van Devender Family Foundation made a $1.5 million gift in 2018, and in 2017, the campaign received gifts of $1 million from Dave and Priscilla O’Donnell and from the Dr. and Mrs. Rodney Faser Triplett Foundation, named in honor of Dr. Triplett, the first board-certified allergist in Mississippi, and his wife, Jackie.
Northeast Jackson resident Meredith Aldridge is director of development for Children’s of Mississippi, the pediatric arm of UMMC.
“We are so grateful for gifts of all sizes to the Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi,” she said. “A project as large and as meaningful as this one calls for all of us to work together toward its completion.”
Seeing this expansion go from a need to a tower has been gratifying, said Joe Sanderson, CEO and board chairman of Sanderson Farms, a Fortune 1000 company headquartered in Laurel.
The company is the title sponsor of Mississippi’s PGA TOUR event, the Sanderson Farms Championship, which has raised more than $7.6 million to benefit the children’s hospital since 2013.
“We know the importance of the children’s hospital to the families of Mississippi, and we knew the need for an expansion,” he said. “This expansion will ensure better outcomes for children, but also better research now and research that hasn’t even been thought of yet. It will bring more doctors to the state, and more jobs.”
The Sandersons found out just how important having a children’s hospital is when their granddaughter, Sophie Creath, needed care from Children’s of Mississippi for pancreatitis as a young child.
“Sophie was in severe pain,” said Kathy Sanderson, “but she was never afraid because of the extraordinarily competent and very loving care she received. That all the children in Mississippi can receive this kind of care here warms my heart.”
When it opens for patient care later this fall, the $180 million tower will transform pediatric care in the state, said Dr. Mary Taylor, Suzan B. Thames Chair, professor and chair of Pediatrics.
“Our medical team will soon have a children’s hospital that matches their expertise,” she said. “The Batson Tower will continue to be a key part of pediatric care in the state, and with this expansion, care there will be even better.”
The Sanderson tower will include a dozen state-of-the-art surgical suites as well as 32 private pediatric intensive care rooms. For the smallest and most critically ill infants in the state, the expansion will have 88 private neonatal intensive care rooms where parents can stay with their babies as they grow stronger.
A pediatric imaging center, a first for the state, will offer MRI and CT scans in a child-friendly area.
Woodward said the towers, one named for a medical leader and the other for a leader in business, symbolize what can be achieved when medicine and philanthropy work in concert.
“This is a shining example of what can be achieved when leaders from across the state come together in support of the health of our children,” she said. “Hope is bright for what the future of pediatric care holds for Mississippi.”
