Construction has gotten under way after a groundbreaking ceremony in Madison, Miss., in mid-November for a new $35 million multi-use medical office facility.
The new building is set to be completed in December 2023 in the town just north of Jackson.
The work site is behind the Madison Primos Cafe and will hold offices for the Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, Jackson Eye Associates (JEA) and Mississippi Retina Associates (MRA), the Madison County Journal reported.
Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler and other city officials, along with representatives from Mississippi Baptist Health Systems (MBHS), JEA, MRA and Ridgeway, Miss.-based Codaray Construction, the project's main contractor, were present for the kickoff event.
Bobbie Ware, CEO and administrator of Mississippi Baptist, told the Journal that the facility is more than just another office building.
"This building represents so much more for our community," Ware explained. "It's the opportunity to expand access to care which is critical for the well-being of Madison. This facility will provide general and specialty medical care to the residents, and it represents an estimated $35 million investment in medical infrastructure, including the recruitment of new physicians and medical services."
She added there has been a lot of recent discussion about limited access to healthcare in Mississippi, and the goal is to encourage wellness in the community and having access to primary care is an important start to health and wellness.
"As we look to the future, we're excited about expanding access to care in a community that's been such a great partner to us over the years," Ware noted.
Skip Jernigan, chair of the MBHS board of trustees and member of the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation board, said he is excited to finally see this project begin.
"I've been a resident of Madison since 1999, and I raised my kids here and my grandchildren live here," he explained. "We're invested in this community. When I got on the board of trustees, all of this was just a pasture. We're looking forward to getting this project going and continuing our faith-based ministry of healing, teaching, and preaching, and providing quality medical services to this community."
Robert Mallette of Jackson Eye Associates and Michael Borne of Mississippi Retina Associates both spoke about how they are looking forward to seeing this project completed.
"We're grateful to be here," Mallette said. "At Jackson Eye, your vision is our mission, we appreciate the opportunity, and we're excited about the future."
Jackson Eye Associates is the largest ophthalmology practice in Mississippi. JEA plans to open its Ambulatory Surgery Center on the Madison medical campus in January 2024.
MRA also is expanding its practice to Madison.
"This represents a real step forward for Mississippi Retina, and we're going to have an innovative state-of-the-art office here [as well as offering] some things here that we didn't offer before," Borne told the Journal. "We'll have a retina only ambulatory surgery center — one of only three in the country — and we'll move our newly formed Mississippi retina research institute here."
He added that MRA's Research Institute, surgery center, and clinic also will be ready for patients in January 2024.
Hawkins-Butler closed the ceremony by recalling how the site for the medical facility used to be open fields four decades ago, and how there was a vision of what could eventually come to Madison, now with a population of more than 25,000 people.
"This is a wonderful day for our community," she said. "This is setting and continues to set a precedent this community needs. This is one of the best places to retire in the Southeast, and a strong component of that is good healthcare.
"When I was elected over 40 years ago, this community was [populated by] 2,200 people. We knew the people would come and we thank you for making Madison a better place and trusting in the future of this city."
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