Construction Update: Pandemic doesn’t halt Children’s of MS expansion progress

Published on Wednesday, July 8, 2020

By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu

The Children’s of Mississippi expansion is on track to be completed this summer.

Plans for the seven-story expansion were not adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Brian Reddoch, UMMC’s construction project manager. He said once the building is complete, the expansion will be furnished and stocked for patient care this fall.

“Our construction manager (Brasfield & Gorrie) and subcontractors on the project are adjusting as challenges arise and thus far have been successful in minimizing the effects,” Reddoch said.

The challenge of responding to a pandemic shows why Mississippi needs a state-of-the-art pediatric hospital, University of Mississippi Medical Center experts said.

“We knew in 2016 when the Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi was launched that we had outgrown the children’s hospital,” said Dr. Mary Taylor, Suzan B. Thames Chair, professor and chair of pediatrics. “Now, seeing the medical needs of the state during this pandemic, we can see how having an up-to-date children’s hospital is needed in a crisis as well as for the patients we see every day in pediatric care.”

One of the things noticed during the state’s pandemic response, said Guy Giesecke, CEO of Children’s of Mississippi, “is how much better we’re going to be able to handle an emergency such as a pandemic in this new facility. We will have more private rooms, and the much larger footprint will enable more separation between different areas, such as our clinics, surgery, radiology and inpatient services.”

Once the tower is completed, the massive task of outfitting and moving into the expansion will go from planning – which has been underway for more than a year – to action.

“Making the transition into this expansion a smooth one will involve all of us at Children’s of Mississippi working together,” said Chris Collado, clinical liaison for the project.