Dr. Ralph Alvarado, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, and his team visited with Baptist leaders on Tuesday, June 25 at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville and Baptist Health Sciences University (BHSU). His visit related to Tennessee Department of Health’s Healthcare Resiliency Program, which granted Baptist Memorial a total of $9.1 million in funding in 2023.
Baptist will use about $5.5 million of the grant to renovate Baptist Collierville, doubling the size of its intensive care unit from seven beds to 14. Baptist plans to use $3.6 million of the grant for the West Tennessee Virtual Care Project, which will expand access to medical services through technology and help meet the growing health care demands of Baptist Memorial hospitals in Carroll, Tipton and Union counties.
“Baptist Memorial Health Care is delighted to receive $9 million in funding from the Tennessee Department of Health’s Healthcare Resiliency Program,” said Keith Norman, vice president/chief government affairs and community relations officer for Baptist Memorial Health Care. “With this funding, we are addressing the region’s top health needs and advancing access to quality health care in West Tennessee.”
At Baptist Collierville, Dr. Alvarado and his team met with Lindsay Stencel, administrator and CEO of Baptist Collierville; Denise Ferguson, chief nursing officer for Baptist Collierville; Pamela Crislip, senior director of advancement services for Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation; John Curran, system director of construction and renovation for Baptist; Nicholas Lewis, chief facilities and environmental safety officer for Baptist; and Keith Norman to tour the hospital, discuss the renovation and review renderings.
“The health care of the entire Mid-South region is greatly improved because of the dedication of Baptist Memorial and Methodist Le Bonheur to their communities and to the pursuit of partnerships that benefit and serve patients,” said Dr. Alvarado. “Leadership in both the public and private sectors is exactly how we improve the culture of health and health care in Tennessee, and how our state becomes the model in the southeast U.S. for meeting the needs of citizens where they live, work, play and worship.”
Dr. Alvarado and team enjoyed a tour of the school of nursing and BHSU College of Osteopathic Medicine (BUCOM), seeing firsthand the leading-edge technology available to the first BUCOM class this fall and the exceptional training nursing students receive.
The tour was hosted by BHSU President Hampton Hopkins, Ed.D. and Dr. Peter Bell, BUCOM dean and vice provost, along with Cheryl Scott, Ed.D., BHSU director of interprofessional education and simulation; Cathy Stepter, D.N.P., BHSU dean of nursing; and Kapil Bajaj, BHSU director of information technology. Mary Freeman, director of government relations for Baptist, also attended.
