Phillip Clendenin, River Region CEO, left, and Dr. Warren Jones, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, pass an intensive care unit room at the new hospital.(The Vicksburg Paper/C. TODD SHERMAN)

[01/04/02]The president of the American Academy of Family Physicians toured the River Region Medical Center Thursday and pronounced the complex, expected to open next month, “excellent.”

Dr. Warren Jones is head of the association of 93,000 family doctors founded in 1947. He lives in Ridgeland and was in town to visit a friend, Dr. Randy Easterling of the River Region staff, and speak to the Vicksburg Rotary Club.

“I think it’s an excellent, excellent facility,” Jones said of the 430,000-square-foot complex on U.S. 61 North near Culkin that is set to open for patients Feb. 17.

River Region president and CEO Phillip Clendenin and Easterling, a family physician at The Street Clinic, conducted the tour.

About 300 workers are painting, installing ceilings and waxing floors to prepare for the opening.

Jones, also a professor of family medicine at University Medical Center in Jackson, was shown surgical rooms, recovery rooms, the ICU unit, labs, waiting rooms, the cafeteria and the maternity ward.

“In many areas, our family doctors will be taking care of patients here,” Jones said. He noted that “patient safety and patient comfort were emphasized. That makes me feel very good.”

Jones said he was especially impressed by the quality of maternity ward’s rooms and equipment. “If it weren’t too far away, my wife would want to deliver here,” he said.

Ground was broken for the hospital in January 2000 and about $120 million has been spent building it as the primary replacement facility for Vicksburg Medical Center on North Frontage Road, which will remain open for some purposes, and ParkView Regional Medical Center on Grove, which will be closed to most in-patient services.

The hospitals were separately owned from the time they were founded until 1998. They then became properties of Quorum Inc., based in Nashville, and River Region, including the hospitals and most clinics in the city. They are now owned by Triad Inc., based in Dallas.

The consolidation idea was described as a solution for staffing and loss of health-care business to the Jackson market.

“This building is really designed with the patient and family in mind,” Clendenin said.

Clendenin said the Marian Hill Chemical Dependency Center will continue to operate in the ParkView complex for at least another year and The Street Clinic and the Vicksburg Cancer Center will remain at their sites on Grove. Vicksburg Medical Center will be renamed River Region West and will be used for specialized care.

In his talk to Rotary, Jones encouraged individuals to take an aggressive approach to maintaining their health.