About Us - Blair E. Batson Children's Hospsital

Children are not miniature adults. They often need the care only a multidisciplinary medical team with a wide range of expertise can provide. These teams can only be found in comprehensive children's hospitals. You'll find that Batson Hospital works hard to have a child-friendly approach to health care. The staff makes it a place where "kids can be kids," even though they are sick. Whetherthey're in the hospital for a short time or an extended stay, they are given the chance to not only heal, but also to play, learn and grow. Additionally, there are staff members trained in helping young patients cope with fear and pain. These are the things that make the Batson Hospital a special place.

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A children's hospital has pediatric specialists -- physicians who have

completed a residency in general pediatrics and then have specialized further by learning about one particular body system in children. As a teaching institution, the Batson Hospital assigns resident physicians, medical, nursing and allied health students to provide some of our patient's care. These members of the health care team are supervised by an attending physician or other professional. The child life staff also helps patients cope with fears or concerns about medical and surgical procedures.

Our Facilities

Caring for patients from infancy to adulthood, Batson Hospital is designed to provide the best health care available for the 21st century. It includes a pediatric intensive care unit, a 24-hour Level I pediatric emergency/trauma center, pediatric rehabilitation center, child psychiatry unit, child development center, a state-of-the-art pediatric cancer clinic and general and subspecialty clinics. Batson Hospital also houses the state's only pediatric surgical facility; a state-of-the-art unit with seven operating rooms and expanded treatment areas which include a pediatric dental clinic and pulmonary and gastroenterology procedure rooms.

Children's Hospital treats the whole child, not just the disease. Each floor, except the intensive care unit and surgical suite, has an activity room open daily and staffed by child life specialists.

The Batson Hospital has its own school with fully certified teachers to help patients maintain their grade level despite being away from their schools during the regular school year.

Designed for safe long-term hospitalization, patient rooms are large enough to accommodate an overnight guest, as well as the necessary monitors, machines, and easy access during emergencies. The newborn intensive care unit, now housed in the Winfred L. Wiser Hospital for Women & Infants, offers the highest level of care available to sick and premature babies according to the standards set by the March of Dimes and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Mississippi Children's Cancer Clinic, made possible by a Junior League of Jackson fundraising drive, opened in 1991.

Since the Batson Hospital opened, the Medical Center has continued to look at the health care needs of its youngest patients. In 2007, NFL quarterback Eli Manning pledged through the Friends of Children's Hospital to raise the $2.5 million needed to fund the renovation of the pediatric clinics.

Once the clinics have been moved to their new location, the work begins on our pediatric emergency room. As Mississippi's only Level I emergency room designed specifically for children, Batson's emergency department staff provide services which cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the state. However, the emergency room was built more than 20 years ago. Approximately 17,000 patients were treated annually when it opened. Today, that number has nearly doubled. The current facilities were simply not designed to handle this patient volume or the problems of today. Plans are underway to expand and renovate the emergency department. However, funding for this critical project is not yet in place and support is needed from the community to help meet this need. Estimated cost for the entire project will be $4.4 million.