After an eight-month construction project, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) South Central Regional Campus in Pine Bluff celebrated its grand opening in a spacious facility on the Jefferson Regional Medical Center campus.
The 33,000-square-foot space on the bottom two floors in the Jefferson Professional Building II provides room for the merger of UAMS’ three Pine Bluff clinics along with its physician residency program, a medical library, classrooms, and administrative offices.
“Our investment in this facility is a reaffirmation of our commitment to provide excellent health care to communities across the state and strengthen our medical education programs that train tomorrow’s health professionals,” said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, MD, MBA.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin; University of Arkansas System President Donald R. Bobbitt; UA System Trustee Stephen Broughton, MD; Brian Thomas, president and CEO of Jefferson Regional Medical Center; Sterling Moore, vice chancellor for UAMS Regional Campuses; and other dignitaries.
The three-story building at the corner of West 40th Avenue and Mulberry Street is 10 years old and has been unoccupied except for a Jefferson Regional clinic on the third floor. UAMS will lease the bottom two floors from Jefferson Regional.
“We had three separate facilities which comprised our program, and that presented many logistical issues,” said Mark Deal, regional executive director for the South Division of UAMS Regional Campuses, which includes campuses in Pine Bluff, Magnolia, Texarkana, and Helena-West Helena. “Having everything we need in one building will eliminate a great deal of duplication, which will save money and be more efficient for staff and our patients.”
In addition to providing patient care, the campus trains family medicine residents and educates nurses, pharmacists, and other health professionals. The Pine Bluff campus was first established by UAMS in partnership with Jefferson Regional in 1973. In 2006, an 8,000-sqaure-foot expansion, including two annexes, was built. The new renovations are the first major facilities changes since that expansion.