Children’s Hospital, Jefferson Regional to team on PB pediatric clinic
Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Jefferson Regional Medical Center announced on Thursday a $17.5 million partnership to establish a pediatric clinic on the campus of Jefferson Regional in Pine Bluff.
The pediatric clinic will provide care close to home for families in southeast Arkansas, including preventive care, developmental screenings, community resources and health education.
Early planning estimates show that Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pine Bluff Clinic will be an approximately 9,700 square-foot facility with 15 outpatient exam rooms staffed by pediatric providers. The physicians will provide front-line care to newborns delivered at Jefferson Regional. The new clinic requires a $17.5 million investment to cover the construction and operation over its first five years.
Marcy Doderer , president and CEO of Arkansas Children’s Hospital also announced Thursday “the public phase” of the capital campaign, Campaign for a Healthier Tomorrow, which she called “a pretty bold endeavor with a $250 million goal to hit by the end of 2021.”
Doderer said the campaign, which began in 2015, is intended to assist Children’s Hospital in redefining how health care is delivered to children and redefining how Children’s Hospital elevates health for children across the state.
“Those philanthropic dol
lars go to support places, like bricks and mortar, like building the clinic in Pine Bluff,” she said. They go to support program development, like adding new services.”
Doderer said the collaboration with Jefferson Regional Medical Center through the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Nursery Alliance, along with the new pediatric clinic, will help to provide greatly enhanced child health in Arkansas.
“Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pine Bluff Clinic will provide families with the ability to manage wellness checkups, reduce emergency care costs and receive care close to home,” she said.
Brian Thomas, CEO of Jefferson Regional Medical Center, said the collaboration with Arkansas Children’s Hospital will assist with ensuring long-term stability with pediatricians to continue providing children of the Delta region with high quality health care.
“We’ve had excellent pediatricians for decades,” Thomas said, “but this helps with recruitment challenges moving forward.”
Thomas said having full coverage for the nursery was also a big incentive for the hospital to enter into the agreement.
“That was kind of the one positive that really put us over the top,” he said. “Finding people who want to cover the nursery is challenging.”
Doderer said she and other officials from Arkansas Children’s Hospital will be traveling around the state over the coming week with additional announcements related to the $250 million Campaign for a Healthier Tomorrow.
According to an internal memo obtained by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Doderer is scheduled to be in Bentonville today to announce a future expansion of Arkansas Children’s Northwest, in Texarkana on Tuesday to announce an expansion of Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s dental sealant outreach efforts, in Jonesboro on Wednesday to announce additional investments in Children’s Hospital’s Jonesboro Clinic, and back in Little Rock on Thursday to offer additional details of the Campaign for a Healthier Tomorrow and to celebrate gifts from the hospital’s statewide volunteer organizations and partners.