JACKSON, MS — The snip of a ribbon adorned with the colorful Children’s of Mississippi logo signaled the beginning of a new era of pediatric care in the state. The ribbon-cutting ceremony, recently held with limited in-person attendance and livestreamed on Facebook, celebrated the completion of the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi on the campus of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The expansion complements the Blair E. Batson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi to form the state’s only children’s hospital. Inside the new tower are a dozen surgical suites, 32 private pediatric intensive care rooms, 88 private neonatal intensive care rooms, an imaging center designed for children, and an outpatient specialty clinic for follow-up care.

“Today is about dreams and possibilities,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine. “Dreams are being realized, and possibilities have turned into bricks and mortar.”

“This has been a challenging year for the world as we adopt new safety protocols in our daily lives and adapt to new ways of living and doing business. The UMMC Children’s expansion team has certainly faced those challenges head on, and I am incredibly grateful to our team for their thoughtful response,” said Brasfield & Gorrie Vice President and Division Manager Ed Hauser. “Due to their extraordinary efforts, construction continued to progress, bringing this much-needed facility to fruition in order to provide best-in-class care for the children of Mississippi. This pediatric expansion will increase access to the state’s only academic medical center, and the new parking deck will help ensure that families’ hospital visits are smooth. Brasfield & Gorrie is honored to work with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and we are thankful for their partnership as we work to bring their vision to reality.”

The children’s hospital now has two towers, one named for a pioneer in pediatric medicine, Dr. Blair E. Batson, UMMC’s first Pediatrics Chair, and another, named for Kathy and Joe Sanderson.

“Together, a tower named after our pediatrics’ founding father and a tower named for two of Mississippi’s most compassionate and generous residents will provide world-class care to Mississippi’s children right here, close to home, in Mississippi’s only children’s hospital,” Woodward said.