Regional One’s $1 billion hospital still has no funding plan
“We will not spend dollars further into the project until we’re sure that we have the funding in place,” Regional One Health CEO Dr. Reginald Coopwood says of plans for a new hospital. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)
Dr. Reginald Coopwood stood on the worn, clean sidewalks outside the Regional Medical Center in Memphis on a beautiful Monday afternoon.
His blue suit jacket flapped open as he stared out at the Shelby County-owned hospital system’s aged campus in the Memphis Medical District.
For a few moments, the usual deluge of wailing ambulances died down. Only the wind whipped down Jefferson Avenue.
Coopwood, standing on that sidewalk, looked at his domain. For 16 years, he has been CEO of Regional One Health, the company that runs the region’s only Level 1 trauma center in a city that struggles with gun violence. As he stood there, work continued about a half-mile away — at 495 Union Ave., the former site of The Commercial Appeal — to clear the land for what could be a new hospital. A modern replacement for his weary civic institution.
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Subscriber Only Dr. Reginald Coopwood Regional One Health Shelby County Commission Lee Harris Mickell LoweryThank you for reading The Daily Memphian. Your support is critical.
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Samuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise reporter who focuses on government and politics. He began his career at the Tulsa World where he covered business and K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on the intersection of government, public policy, influence and how public dollars are spent.
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