Located in Tupelo, North Mississippi Medical Center serves a 24-county region, is the largest hospital in Mississippi and the largest rural hospital in the U.S.

The 650-bed facility’s comprehensive care, provided by a staff of 450 doctors and 6,000-plus employees, includes a cancer center, heart institute, surgical services, diagnostic imaging, emergency department, behavioral health, women and children’s services and more.

Improving the health of the region’s residents is the goal; continuous refinement of strategic plans and processes is the method that keeps North Mississippi Medical Center on the cutting edge of health care and has earned the hospital multiple awards of excellence.

Neonatal ICU, da Vinci Surgical System Among Advances

Tangible results of NMMC’s drive to provide ever-improving, patient-centered care include the recent expansion of its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the addition of the da Vinci robotic surgery system. And more is soon to come.

Opened in 2009, the Neonatal ICU sits atop NMMC’s Women's Hospital as a whole new second floor. It accommodates 34 newborns, with the flexibility to accommodate 50, plus space for 18 premature or critically ill newborns and facilities for family members.

In another part of the NMMC campus, the operating room now boasts the high-tech da Vinci Surgical System, which provides a less-invasive alternative to open surgery and laparoscopy. The innovative da Vinci robot requires only a small incision and gives doctors a 3-D, zoomable view of the surgical area. It is used for a variety of procedures, including prostatectomies, kidney surgery, hysterectomies and some cancer treatments.

Expansion to Add 250 Rooms

Coming soon is the hospital’s most ambitious improvement project to date: a $55 million expansion and renovation of patient rooms. The West Bed Tower Project will add 250 new rooms that will be 50 percent larger than the old rooms. And not only will the rooms be bigger, they’ll be better as well. Each room will be outfitted with an ADA-accessible toilet and shower, non-slip flooring, bedside table, closet and recliner.

Patients will have bedside control of everything – from the television and temperature to the lights and window blinds. Window views also will be expanded.

“All in all, the new rooms will provide quite a nice experience for patients,” says Bruce Ridgway, vice president of facility management and construction.

Nursing staff will gain efficiency from identical placement of light switches and equipment, as well as in-room desks and sinks and linen cabinets that are accessible from both outside and inside rooms.

A brand-new, five-story tower to be built adjacent to the existing West Tower; the target date for its completion is October 2012.

All patient care then will be moved to the new tower while the existing tower is demolished and rebuilt to match, with completion of the second tower targeted for 2013. A wide corridor will connect the two structures.