During Baptist’s early years, we were fortunate to partner with Memphis’ first neurosurgeon—Dr. Eustace Semmes. He centered the majority of his practice at Baptist, and as he and his associate, Dr. Francis Murphey, built one of our community’s premier medical practices, they also helped build our neurosurgical services. Semmes-Murphey Clinic physicians established our first neurosurgical ICU and were instrumental in our decision to purchase our first CT scanner.
Our relationship with Semmes-Murphey is even stronger today. Recently, we partnered to form the Brain and Spine Network, a collaboration that will bring a new level of neurological and neurosurgical care to the Memphis area.
The Brain and Spine Network will bring new services. Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation grants will allow us to offer a concussion program for children and adolescents and a multidisciplinary spine center. The partnership also will enhance some of our existing services, like our Headache Clinic, Epilepsy Monitoring Unit and our stroke program. But most importantly, it will make it easier for patients to get the care they need and deserve.
The center of our newest programs will be nurse navigators, who will be the first point of contact for patients and will guide them throughout the treatment process. We have nurse navigators in several of our facilities, and they make a big difference in the lives of patients. They help patients through some of the toughest times in their lives, combining vast clinical knowledge with compassion, paying equal attention to patients’ emotional and physical health.
Our goal is for the Brain and Spine Network to be a beacon of hope to people who are looking for answers to chronic health problems. It will be a place where patients can get exceptional, empathetic care from experts who genuinely care about them. And if our history with Semmes-Murphey is any indication, it will transform neurological and neurosurgical care across the region.
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