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BH RECEIVES $750,000 FOR CONSTRUCTION OF TRANSPLANT INSTITUTE
Date Posted: 4/6/2010
LITTLE ROCK,
Ark. (April 6, 2010) - BAPTIST HEALTH
Medical Center-Little Rock announced the receipt of a $750,000 grant from The
Brown Foundation of Houston, Texas, Inc. This extremely generous donation is for the
construction of a 5,320-square-foot facility that will become Arkansas' first
center devoted exclusively to heart and kidney transplants.
Because of this donation, the official name will be the BAPTIST HEALTH Transplant Institute at The Brown Foundation Transplant Center.
Construction is under way on the $2.2 million center that will occupy space on the third and fourth floors in the Hickingbotham Outpatient Center on the BAPTIST HEALTH Medical Center-Little Rock campus. Completion of the project is expected sometime this summer.
The BAPTIST HEALTH heart and kidney transplant programs began in 1989 when BAPTIST HEALTH performed the state's first heart transplant. Currently, BAPTIST HEALTH is the only active adult heart-transplant provider and the only adult ventricular-assist-device provider in Arkansas.
This new institute will provide one central location for patients who have had an organ transplant or are awaiting a transplant to be evaluated in the most timely and comfortable manner. This comprehensive unit will help keep transplant patients from having to leave the state in order to have some organ transplants and provide more transplantation services to Arkansans.
"We are pleased
to consolidate our transplant services and have the patients more conveniently
located to the services that they need in the pre-transplant and
post-transplant stages of their care," said Doug Weeks, senior vice president
and administrator of BAPTIST HEALTH Medical Center-Little Rock.
The BAPTIST
HEALTH Transplant Institute is also being funded with proceeds from last year's
Bolo Bash fundraiser and private donations.
BAPTIST HEALTH is the state's most comprehensive healthcare system. With more than 175 facilities, BAPTIST HEALTH is committed to delivering "All Our Best" in healthcare to the people of Arkansas. For more information about BAPTIST HEALTH or any BAPTIST HEALTH service, call BAPTIST HEALTH HealthLine at B-A-P-T-I-S-T (227-8478).
