Medical office coming to Madison
MADISON — Ground was broken here Tuesday morning for a brand new multi-use medical office facility to be completed in December 2023.
The site is located behind the Madison Primos Cafe and will hold offices for the Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, Jackson Eye Associates (JEA), and Mississippi Retina Associates (MRA).
Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler, alderman, other city officials, and representatives from Mississippi Baptist, JEA, MRA, and Codaray Construction were present for the groundbreaking.
Bobbie Ware, CEO and administrator for Mississippi Baptist, said the facility is more than just another office building.
“This building represents so much more for our community,” Ware said. “It’s the opportunity to expand access to care which is critical for the well-being of Madison. This facility will provide general and specialty medical care to the residents, and it represents an estimated $35 million investment in medical infrastructure, including the recruitment of new physicians and medical services.”
Ware said there has been a lot of recent discussion about limited access to healthcare in Mississippi, and the goal is to encourage wellness in the community, and having access to primary care is an important start to health and wellness.
“As we look to the future, we’re excited about expanding access to care in a community that’s been such a great partner to us over the years,” she said.
Skip Jernigan, chairman of the MBHS Board of Trustees and member of the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation board, said he is excited to finally see this project begin.
“I’ve been a resident of Madison since 1999, and I raised my kids here and my grandchildren live here,” Jernigan said. “We’re invested in this community. When I got on the board of trustees, all of this was just a pasture. We’re looking forward to getting this project going and continuing our faith based ministry of healing, teaching, and preaching, and providing quality medical services to this community.”
Dr. Robert Mallette of Jackson Eye Associates and Dr. Michael Borne of Mississippi Retina Associates both spoke a few words about how they are looking forward to seeing this project to completion.
“We’re grateful to be here,” Mallette said. “At Jackson Eye, your vision is our mission, we appreciate the opportunity, and we’re excited about the future.”
Jackson Eye Associates is the largest ophthalmology practice in Mississippi. They plan to have their Ambulatory Surgery Center open in Jan. 2024.
Dr. Michael Borne said he is excited to move Mississippi Retina’s operation to Madison.
“This represents a real step forward for Mississippi Retina, and we’re going to have an innovative state-of-the-art office here and offer some things here that we didn’t offer before,” Borne said. “We’ll have a retina only ambulatory surgery center, which be only one of three in the country, and we’ll move our newly formed retina research institute of Mississippi here. We’re looking forward to getting this done and moving on with it.”
Mississippi Retina’s state-of-the-art Research Institute, surgery center and clinic is also set to open in Jan. 2024.
Hawkins-Butler closed the ceremony by recalling how the site for the facility used to be fields, and how there was a vision of what could eventually come to the area one day.
“This is a wonderful day for our community,” Hawkins-Butler said. “This is setting and continues to set a precedent this community needs. This is one of the best places to retire in the Southeast, and a strong component of that is good healthcare. When I was elected over 40 years ago, this community was 2,200 people. We knew the people would come and we thank you for making Madison a better place and trusting in the future of this city.”
For more information, visit www.baptistonline.com, www.JacksonEye.com and www.msretina.com.