Le Bonheur breaks ground on new outpatient facility in Jackson

JACKSON, Tenn. — Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center will bring care closer to home for more than 5,000 children in West Tennessee. The 30,000-square-foot, 20-exam-room facility located at 1531 Vann Drive will open in the Fall of 2017.

Four West Tennessee children, all helped by Le Bonheur, broke ground Tuesday morning for the newest facility in north Jackson.

“When you need a pediatric specialist, you need them now, not two hours from now or next Wednesday,” CEO Meri Armour said.

The Outpatient Center will provide a variety of diagnostic services including lab, X-ray, ultrasound, EKG, EEG, ECHO and pulmonary function testing. Subspecialty clinics will include cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, general surgery, genetics, nephrology, neurology, pulmonology and urology. Fisher Construction of Milan, Tenn., was selected to build the project.

For Alicia Russell, this new center means the world to her. She and her family have been traveling to Memphis for her daughter’s care for seven years. Her daughter, Claire, had a serious heart surgery when she was three days old, and today Claire helped break ground for the new facility.

“We have annual appointments in Memphis and we go back once or twice a year to Memphis to see our cardiologist, so it will be so nice to have the option to come to Jackson for those appointments because it’s so much closer to home,” Russell said.

“We’ve seen so many kids from this region, we thought it was time that we sort of repaid the favor and came to you and built something here,” Armour said.

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis treats more than 250,000 children each year through community programs, regional clinics and a 255-bed, state-of-the-art hospital. Le Bonheur trains more than 350 pediatricians and specialists each year and has been named by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Children’s Hospital.