Arkansas Children’s and Jefferson Regional Announce Expansion of Services to Improve Child Health.

Published date: September 19, 2019

(Pine Bluff, Ark.) September 19, 2019 – Arkansas Children’s in association with Jefferson Regional made a historic announcement today to advance pediatric care in Jefferson County and South Arkansas. Together, Arkansas Children’s and Jefferson Regional will establish a new pediatric clinic on the campus of Jefferson Regional in Pine Bluff. The pediatric clinic will provide care close to home for families in Southeast Arkansas, including preventative care, developmental screenings, community resources and health education.

Early planning estimates that the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pine Bluff Clinic will be an approximately 9,700 square-foot facility with 15 outpatient exam rooms staffed by pediatric providers. The physicians will also provide frontline care to newborns delivered at Jefferson Regional. The new clinic requires a $17.5 million dollar investment to cover the construction and operation over its first 5 years.

“In association with Jefferson Regional and the Pine Bluff medical community, Arkansas Children’s is excited to establish a new clinic and expand care for families in the Southeast Arkansas Region,” said Marcy Doderer, FACHE, president and CEO of Arkansas Children’s. “Our collaboration with Jefferson Regional through the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Nursery Alliance, along with this new pediatric clinic, helps us deliver on our promise to provide unprecedented child health for children in our state. Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pine Bluff Clinic will provide families with the ability to manage wellness checkups, reduce emergency care costs and receive care close to home.”

“Jefferson Regional provides vital healthcare to the southeast region of Arkansas,” said Brian Thomas, president and CEO of Jefferson Regional. “This collaboration with Arkansas Children’s will assist us with ensuring long-term stability with pediatricians to continue providing the children of this region with excellent care.”

Today, Arkansas Children’s announced the public phase of the Campaign for a Healthier Tomorrow, a bold $250 million campaign designed to support the promise of unprecedented child health, defined and delivered, for children in Arkansas. The expansion of services through the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pine Bluff Clinic is the first announcement in a week-long series to publicly launch the Campaign for a Healthier Tomorrow. Over the next week, Arkansas Children’s will continue to announce plans to expand statewide clinics and launch innovative health solutions to advance child health in Arkansas.

Philanthropic Investment

Thanks to the support of the Pine Bluff community and donors across the region, more than $6 million in philanthropic investment has been secured for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pine Bluff Clinic.

Capital and operational gifts include a $3 million gift from the estate of Merle and Deloris Peterson of Dumas. The Peterson Trust named Arkansas Children’s as a beneficiary of the estate, providing support for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pine Bluff Clinic. Merle and Deloris were longtime supporters of Arkansas Children’s and members of the Ruth Olive Beall Society, a group of supporters who have designated Arkansas Children’s in their estate.

Additionally, an anonymous donor from outside the state gave a $1 million gift to support the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pine Bluff Clinic. More than a dozen statewide supporters have collectively given more than $2 million including statewide volunteer group Circle of Friends, the Kline Family Foundation, and Arkansas Children’s Foundation board members and Pine Bluff natives Jason LaFrance and his wife Cassie, Charlie Whiteside and his wife Cappy, and Jennifer Buckner Schueck.

Arkansas Children’s Foundation board chair, Charlie Whiteside and his wife Cappy are the 2019 chairs for The Campaign for a Healthier Tomorrow.

Arkansas Children’s invites you to be a champion for children in our state and make a gift to support statewide initiatives. Your generous support helps deliver on the promise of a healthier tomorrow for the children of Arkansas. Join us and make your gift today at www.archildrens.org/giving or by calling 888-880-7491.

Campaign for a Healthier Tomorrow

By most national measures, Arkansas is one of the least healthy states ranking 40 out of 50 states in child health and well-being. Arkansas Children’s envisions a healthier tomorrow for all 710,000 children in Arkansas—for both our patients and the children who will never walk through the doors of Arkansas Children’s.

Since 2015, The Campaign for a Healthier Tomorrow has secured more than $200 million in gifts towards a $250 million goal:

In 2015, Arkansas Children’s invested in two new 76-D Sikorsky Angel One Helicopters with the capabilities to reach a child anywhere in the state in 55 minutes. Since 1978, the Angel One Transport team has transported the most critically ill and injured patients to Arkansas Children’s and established a statewide network of care for children in Arkansas.
Arkansas Children’s Dental Outreach programs are providing care to children across the state. Four, full-service mobile dental vans serve children in need of root canals, cavity fillings, extractions and crowns. School-based programs provide oral health education, dental sealants and screenings to more than 8,000 students annually. To date, the mobile dental vans and the dental sealant program have provided $13 million in preventive oral health services for children since 2009.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital has the state’s only level IV NICU. In 2016, ACH announced the creation of a Nursery Alliance to support hospitals around the state to provide children the care they need close to home. Since the program’s inception, the nursery alliance has established partnerships with Conway Regional in Conway, CHI St. Vincent in Hot Springs, Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff, Medical Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado and Ashley County Medical in Crossett.
In 2016, Arkansas Children’s established The David M. Clark Center for Safe and Healthy Children, a place dedicated to the care and treatment of neglected and abused children and their families. The Center is a single, safe place for children to receive medical, psychological and social health services and provides support by providing outpatient medical evaluations for children Rice Medical Clinic, Family Treatment Program and Team for Children at Risk.
In 2017, the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Southwest Little Rock Clinic opened. Staffed with bilingual physicians and nurses, the clinic provides general pediatric and preventative care to families in the region. Arkansas Children’s Hospital clinics in Jonesboro and West Little Rock also provide primary care to children in the state.
In 2018 Arkansas Children’s Northwest became one of the nation’s newest children’s hospitals. Located in Springdale, Arkansas Children’s Northwest provides more than 20 subspecialty areas and a general pediatric clinic. In 2015, Arkansas Children’s announced the expansion of services in Northwest Arkansas to establish a 336,000 square feet hospital, Arkansas Children’s Northwest, located in Springdale. More than 14,000 gifts were made and $81 million in philanthropy supported the building of ACNW.

About Arkansas

Arkansas Children's, Inc. is the only healthcare system in the state solely dedicated to caring for Arkansas' 710,000 children, giving the organization a unique ability to shape the landscape of pediatric care in Arkansas and transform child health throughout the region. The private, non-profit organization includes two pediatric hospitals, a pediatric research institute and USDA nutrition center, a philanthropic foundation, a nursery alliance, statewide clinics, and many education and outreach programs. Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) is a 336-bed, Magnet-recognized facility in Little Rock operating the state’s only Level I pediatric trauma center; the state's only burn center; the state's only Level IV neonatal intensive care unit; the state's only pediatric intensive care unit; and the state's only nationally recognized pediatric transport program. Additionally, ACH is nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report in five pediatric subspecialties (2019-20): Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Orthopedics and Pulmonology. Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW), the first and only pediatric hospital in the Northwest Arkansas region, opened in Springdale in early 2018. ACNW operates a 24-bed inpatient unit; a surgical unit with five operating rooms; outpatient clinics offering more than 20 subspecialties; diagnostic services; imaging capabilities; occupational therapy services; and Northwest Arkansas' only pediatric emergency department, equipped with 30 exam rooms. Generous philanthropic and volunteer engagement has sustained Arkansas Children's since it began as an orphanage in 1912, and today ensures the system can fundamentally transform the health of children in Arkansas and beyond. To learn more, visit archildrens.org.

About Jefferson Regional

Jefferson Hospital Association, Inc. is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of Arkansas. Jefferson Hospital Association’s primary purpose is to provide healthcare to the citizens of Southeast Arkansas. Jefferson Hospital Association, Inc., d/b/a Jefferson Regional Medical Center (JRMC), the only general acute care hospital in Jefferson County, is licensed for 471 acute care beds and currently operates available 371 beds. JRMC serves residents of an 11 county area that includes Jefferson, Cleveland and Lincoln counties (primary service area) and Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Dallas, Desha, Drew and Grant counties (secondary service area). It is estimated that approximately 65 percent of JRMC’s patients originate from its primary service area with 35 percent originating from the secondary service area.

About Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends members work to promote children’s health through education, advocacy and fundraising for Arkansas Children's Hospital and Arkansas Children’s Northwest. Since 1983, Circle of Friends chapters have raised more than $18 million to fund outreach programs across the state, an after-hours resource phone line, the Arkansas Children’s COF Clinic, the Hematology and Oncology Outpatient Clinic and special equipment needs. Circle of Friends members are recruited by friends and through public membership drives each fall. Currently, there are 10 chapters across Arkansas with nearly 400 members.

###