Dignitaries, officials, and those associated with Baptist Memorial Health Care got a glimpse of the new $10 million Baptist Arlington Emergency Department on Thursday, Jan. 5, four days before its opening on Monday.

About 100 people toured the state-of-the-art freestanding emergency facility, the first of its kind in West Tennessee. The emergency department at 5150 Airline Road, just off Interstate 40, will provide needed care for a void between Shelby and Madison counties.

New Arlington Baptist facility opens next month

“We’re Exit 25 (in Arlington). Jackson is Exit 80. There is not a high-level medical care between here and there,” said Arlington Mayor and Memphis Fire Department EMT Mike Wissman, who cited the large number of serious injuries that happen on nearby Interstate 40 and Interstate 269. “Since all of this has started, we now have BlueOval 15 miles up the road, which is going to be a whole new city and create new cities as the years go on.”

Brad Parsons, Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis vice president and chief executive officer, sees the facility as a critical component of Baptist’s commitment to providing access and comprehensive health care for the Mid-South.

“This facility really has a physical layout that really speaks to what we think health care looks like for the future,” he said.

The 35,000-square-foot building includes an imaging center, Baptist Medical Group-Family Physicians Group primary care and family practice offices and an urgent care center.

“If you look around the country, there have been more communities that take on the freestanding (emergency department),” Parsons said. “It’s something that we knew was a good fit for this growing community.”

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The emergency department includes eight patient rooms, an area for trauma patients and an isolation room for patients with a potentially infectious disease. There is a decontamination room for patients exposed to hazardous materials or chemicals and a private triage area for initial evaluations. A helipad is also on site.

The primary care and family physicians center and its 18 exam rooms will open on Feb. 1, according to Dr. Saju Joy, Baptist senior vice president and chief physician executive, who points out that the new facility is also equipped for drive-thru testing.

“We’ve learned the value of having options like this through this past few years of the pandemic. These services and these options can help expedite testing, reduce the spread of illness, and really provide a better experience and better care for the sick patients of our community,” Joy said.

OrthoSouth also plans to open offices at the facility in early 2023.

Getting the project done ultimately took five-plus years, but Baptist’s interest in Arlington dates to the mid-1990s.

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“They had an option on land south of I-40 way back before 1997. That option fell through for many reasons, and they ended up settling on this piece of property and purchased this land in 2006,” Arlington Town Administrator Cathy Durant said.

Baptist originally submitted an application for the Arlington emergency department in May 2017, but it was denied at the state level along with a competing request from Saint Francis Hospital. In March 2019, the state reversed the decision after Baptist appealed the ruling.

“When we started planning this facility ... we knew that there was a need for emergency care in this region,” Jason Little, president and CEO for Baptist Memorial Health Care, said. He cited population growth, the lack of hospital presence in the vicinity and the increases in emergency room traffic as several reasons.

Baptist broke ground on the project in September 2021. Flintco Construction was the general contractor; E4H, which has helped design more than 125 other emergency departments across the country, was the architect. Lakeland-based A2H was the engineering firm.

“Having a facility like this is going to save lives,” Arlington Alderman and Memphis Fire Department Battalion Chief Larry Harmon said. “We’re very fortunate that Baptist chose to come here. It’s comforting to know it’s this close.”

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On Saturday, Jan. 7 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., the Baptist Arlington Emergency Department will host a Community Day for the general public that will include tours of the facility, health screenings and basic CPR training among other events.

Baptist owns around 70 additional acres adjacent to the facility for possible future development, but as of yet, there are no plans in place to expand the campus.