DIOCESAN NEWS
11/27/09
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St. Dominic Hospital hopes to expand campus
      JACKSON – Calling their plan to expand into Madison County a “win win” opportunity for all concerned, leaders of St. Dominic Hospital detailed last week the hospital’s long-range plan to expand its campus with the development of a 71-bed acute care hospital in Madison County.
      “St. Dominic’s has a long history of providing a Christian ministry of healing and serving the health care needs of people living in Madison County,” said Sister Mary Dorothea Sondgeroth, OP, president of St. Dominic Health Services. “This hospital will be an extension of that mission and we remain committed to delivering the medical and emergency services residents there so desperately need close to home.”
      Research by St. Dominic’s team has shown Madison County, one of the state’s fastest growing counties, is “under bedded” when it comes to acute care (short stay) beds per 1,000 people for counties in Mississippi. The same data shows St. Dominic Hospital is the top choice for hospital care by Madison County residents.
      Hospital officials said the Madison campus is part of a bigger long-range plan that significantly invests in the main campus in Jackson, resulting in growth and economic development for the entire region.
      St. Dominic’s plans to move 71 of its existing licensed beds from its Jackson campus to a new campus in Madison County, east of Interstate 55 at the Galleria Parkway and the planned Reunion Parkway interchange.
      The $121 million facility will be complemented by a 60,000 square foot medical office building for primary care and specialty physician offices. As currently planned, St. Dominic’s Madison facility will include a Level IV emergency department, 65 beds for acute medical/surgical and intensive care, and six labor and delivery suites.
      As a full-service community facility, it will also provide surgery and recovery services, imaging services, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), laboratory and outpatient services.
      St. Dominic’s filed a Certificate of Need (CON) application in December 2008 with the Mississippi State Department of Health and will have an administrative hearing Feb. 3-17, 2010. The CON application process is a state regulatory requirement before a hospital can expand its campus or add selected services.
      Sister Sondgeroth said citizens of the community can play a role in the state’s review process because the Department of Health wants to hear from the community about its needs. “Now is the time to let your voice be heard. Help us continue to provide our Christian healing ministry by expanding our high quality, compassionate care to all citizens of Madison County.”
      “We are reaching out to residents of Madison County to share our campus expansion plans and to help improve their access to medical and emergency services,” said Claude Harbarger, president of St. Dominic Hospital, who is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).
      “Madison County residents and leaders have repeatedly told us better health care is essential to protecting their community’s future. So we’re urging people to make their voices heard and make this critical need clear to the state regulators,” Harbarger said.
      Citizens can go to the hospital’s new website, www.mystdommadison.com for more information and “to sign a petition in support of our plans as well as tell their friends, neighbors, anyone in their community about the opportunity to support this effort,” he said.
      Once the Madison campus is approved, St. Dominic’s expects to invest an estimated $150 million over a 10-year period to expand and renovate its Jackson campus to accommodate services and technologies required to meet the needs of the more acutely ill.
      “Our long-range facility plan reflects our mission to meet the full range of health care needs of people in central Mississippi with a high level of compassion, quality and sensitivity to the individual patient,” added Harbarger. “We believe establishing a Madison satellite facility and significantly enhancing our Jackson campus is also the most effective and economical plan for responding to what this region needs now and in the future.
      “We continue to be committed to being a valuable partner to the community and doing everything possible to improve the health and well-being of all people living here,” he said.

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