Batson dedicates new ER/trauma unit facility

JACKSON — Batson Children’s Hospital has dedicated its new Colonel Harland Sanders Children’s Emergency Department and the Selby and Richard McRae Children’s Trauma Unit, tripling the treatment area available for the state’s only Level 1 pediatric emergency and trauma center.

Partially funded by individual $1-million gifts from the Colonel Harland Sanders and the Selby and Richard McRae Foundations, construction on the $5.8-million facility began in late 2009.

The 16,000-square-foot facility replaces a children’s emergency room built in 1982 to handle a 15,000-per-year-patient volume. Currently, the children’s ER sees 32,000 to 35,000 patients annually.

The existing ER has a small waiting area, one triage room and a jumble of treatment areas scattered throughout its 5,100 square feet including one larger room divided into four separate patient areas and an area in an enclosed hallway with only a fabric curtain for privacy.

The new facility will have 23 treatment rooms, including several reserved for patient overflow, as well as two designated trauma areas, two waiting areas and separate rooms for family consultation, cast treatments and triage.