Jackson Jambalaya

Recently, I have seen statements in some media that insinuate the University of Mississippi Medical Center is leaving Jackson. It’s true that we are creating more opportunities for all Mississippians to access our care outside the state capital, but leaving Jackson? Nothing could be further from the truth. We are growing and expanding BOTH in Jackson and across the state.   

In our 70-year history, UMMC has grown into what Mississippi needs, an institution that day-in and day-out works to improve Mississippians’ health and well-being through our three-part mission of education, research and patient care. Everything we do rolls up to caring for patients, directly or indirectly, in all parts of the state, including Jackson. This city is the home of our six growing and vibrant health science schools, the primary location of our research programs, which heavily focus on the diseases most impacting Mississippians, and where we provide most of our patient care, some of which can be found nowhere else in the state.   

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with new Jackson Mayor John Horhn. I enjoyed working with him as a state senator and very much look forward to working with him as mayor. We discussed UMMC’s substantial investments into the city, which has been our home since 1955. As Jackson’s largest employer and a significant local economic driver, we understand the importance of a strong working relationship with city leaders.   

When I welcome new employees, I often speak of our statewide footprint. Bottom line: We strive to extend our expertise across the state to increase access to care. We know that not everyone can easily get to Jackson and navigate the city or our campus. Growing up in a rural area, I have an understanding of the transportation challenges some Mississippians face. I also saw the impact of those same challenges during my years of practice as a UMMC emergency medicine physician.  

We recently announced significant expansions – the opening of new clinics in Ridgeland at Colony Park South and the acquisition of the former Merit Health Madison hospital in Canton, now UMMC Madison. This 67-bed community hospital joins UMMC Grenada and UMMC Holmes County in providing acute care closer to communities and offers additional training opportunities for students, residents and fellows. More training options and outpatient services will be available early next year with the opening of Colony Park North, an ambulatory surgery center.   

But Jackson is our home. Has been and always will be.  

When we increase access to UMMC care, we do it with a keen awareness of which services should or must be provided on our Jackson campus – in or near the hospital – and which ones can be offered in other areas.  

Our Jackson campus has grown from a single University Hospital to multiple specialized facilities for caring for the critically ill, women and infants, children (two towers) and adults. Our emergency departments, adult and pediatric, have grown to address demand, and late last year we opened additional adult critical care and inpatient beds as well as the state’s most comprehensive burn unit. All of this, and more, in Jackson at 2500 North State Street.   

Investments into construction projects for our Jackson facilities are significant: $204 million in new construction over the last two years, $76 million in facility upgrades and maintenance and annual spending of $4.5 million for leased properties. I won’t list all the projects, but a few key ones underway are the Alyce G. Clarke Center for Medically Fragile Children, a new clinic for The MIND Center and an adolescent acute inpatient psychiatric unit.   

Also, we have several major projects scheduled to launch in Jackson over the next five years, representing an investment of $264 million. These commitments, which include a new Cancer Center and Research Institute, are vital for the health and well-being of Mississippians.  

What other organization is investing in Jackson’s future to this level?  

It is because of our strong foundation in Jackson that we have been able to build a network of hospitals and clinics to extend the reach of the Medical Center into every region of Mississippi. We have Children’s of Mississippi clinics in 13 cities, adult-care clinics in 26 and four helicopter bases scattered across the state. Through these locations we strive to meet the needs of our patients daily, a commitment from our skilled and dedicated caregivers.    

Expansion to community health care is common for academic medical centers like UMMC. Look at peer institutions such as University of Alabama – Birmingham, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and University of Arkansas Health Sciences Center, just to name a few. They all have a hub-and-spokes system of care in which the medical center is anchored in a major city, yet community health care is an important part of the system.  

As always, UMMC is there for our state in times of great need, providing trauma care when life hangs in the balance, intensive care for premature infants, transplants of lifegiving organs, telehealth-based care for quick and easy connection to our programs, advanced cancer treatments and clinical trials that halt disease progression and more.  

Our approach to health care decisions is not a matter of either centrally based services or community health, but BOTH.   

Succeeding in our mission is possible, but only when we reach within and beyond county lines and continue to partner with community and state leaders, and other health systems and care providers. We have wonderful partners and supporters at the state and federal leadership level, philanthropic heroes who step up again and again to make the magic happen and physicians and health systems who work with us to improve health care in communities. The health needs of our state are too great for us to do anything less.    

We will continue to evaluate ways we can improve the health of all Mississippians – in Jackson and beyond. Our mission is strong, and our vision is clear. It’s simple really – keep the main thing, the main thing – A Healthier Mississippi.  

Dr. LouAnn Woodward 
University of Mississippi Medical Center 
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and 
Dean, UMMC School of Medicine