Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 10, 2000 - The State of Mississippi recently approved Baptist Memorial Health Care's certificate of need application to create an $8 million, 14,400-square-foot Comprehensive Community Cancer Center at Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto.

The Cancer Center at Baptist DeSoto will offer expansive cancer services to patients including chemotherapy, treatment planning, linear accelerator, brachytherapy, cancer registry, cancer screening, nutrition counseling, social work and support services. Construction on the Center is planned to begin in March 2000.

The Center will provide convenient care for the rapidly increasing DeSoto population, according to Melvin Walker, CEO and administrator of Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto. Previously, cancer patients in Baptist DeSoto's service area had to travel to Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Memphis for treatment.

"We're proud to offer quality cancer treatment right here in our community," Walker said. "We know this is something that's very important to our patients. Cancer treatment is not an easy thing to go through, so we want to give the very best possible care in a convenient location and a comfortable setting."

Opened in 1988, Baptist DeSoto in Southaven, Miss., comprises 110 acute care beds, 30 rehabilitation beds, and a 120-bed skilled nursing facility. Last year, the staff at Baptist DeSoto delivered almost 1,200 babies.

The hospital offers a Women's Center and services in skilled nursing, diagnostics, laboratory, cardiopulmonary, rehabilitation, industrial health and home care & hospice. Other services for patients at Baptist DeSoto include an occupational medicine program; transportation services for outpatients; and the Peace of Mind Program breast cancer program, designed to educate women about breast disease, encourage them to have regular mammograms and teach proper self-examination techniques.

In 1995 & 1996, Baptist DeSoto received the state of Mississippi's Excellence Award, and in 1997, became the only Mississippi hospital ever to receive the Governor's Award. The hospital received Certificate of Need approval in 1998 for its current $40 million expansion.

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