Memphis, Tenn., Nov. 17, 2000 - Baptist Memorial Hospital-Medical Center transferred its last 14 patients to other facilities today, marking the closing of the 88-year-old hospital.

With the Baptist Medical Center's Emergency Department closed as of 5 a.m. today, patients with a medical emergency should call 911 for assistance. Baptist patients may seek care at other area Baptist hospitals, including Baptist Memorial Hospital-East, Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto and Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville. Patients seeking another Baptist hospital for a non-emergency may call 1-800-4BAPTIST for assistance.

Baptist Medical Center employees have spent the past two weeks meeting with Human Resources representatives to determine alternate positions for them within the Baptist system.

"This marks the end of an era," said Stephen C. Reynolds, president and CEO of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. "and the beginning of another era of health care choices for the Mid-South. We leave the Medical Center with a bit of sadness and sentimentality because we've had a wonderful history of quality and service here. But we also feel excited about the growth and the new horizons that lie ahead."

In 1997, Baptist announced an aggressive construction project, which included building a more neighborhood-based Medical Center facility, replacing the tertiary role it played in the decades before. Earlier this year when officials began refocusing on the downtown project, they were approached by representatives from The Med and the University of Tennessee and asked not to rebuild in the Medical Center location. According to them, a new Baptist facility in the area would prove to be too much competition in an area where there are already too many beds and not enough patients.

Baptist officials now will refocus their efforts on other construction projects. Baptist's construction and renovation campaign, known as Health Care for the 21st Century, includes the Baptist Heart Institute of the Mid-South, the Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women, and expansion projects at Baptist Memorial Hospital-East and Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto.

Baptist's origins date back to 1912, when the Southern Baptist Conventions of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas jointly opened Baptist Memorial Hospital in the Memphis Medical Center. From 150 beds, the hospital went on to become the largest not-for-profit non-government hospital in the United States at one time, and one of the largest hospitals in the world.

Today, the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. is one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the United States, offering an integrated health care delivery system with a full continuum of care to communities throughout the Mid-South. The BMHCC network of health care consists of 17 hospitals; more than 2,500 affiliated physicians; home, hospice and psychiatric care throughout the tri-state area; eight minor medical centers and clinics; a chain of surgery, rehabilitation and other outpatient centers; and an education system highlighted by the Baptist College of Health Sciences. It is one of the top-rated integrated health care delivery systems in the country, according to the American Hospital Association.

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