A look at the growth and accomplishments of Baptist Health in the River Valley
FOR YOU. FOR LIFE.
Community Board Members
Fort Smith • • • • • • • • • • •
Bryan Clardy, MD Philip Doss Jeffrey Evans, MD Jason Green Charles Jennings, MD Holly Jennings, MD Hugh Maurras Carolyn Mosley, PhD Myla Petree Maggie Rice John David Terrell, MD
A note from Jeffrey Carrier, FACHE Region President: Thank you for taking the time to reflect on 2023 with us. This “year in review” serves as a tool for our employees and community stakeholders to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable achievements that have shaped Baptist Health-Fort Smith and Baptist Health-Van Buren as well as our clinics in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. The last year has given us time to refocus our strengths of providing excellent health care with well-trained clinicians and staff, as well as renewing our commitment to investing in ourselves, our facilities and our communities to create a healthier future. Each project and initiative listed on the following pages is a testament to Baptist Health’s commitment to excellence, innovation and, most importantly, the well-being of our employees and patients. I couldn’t be prouder of my colleagues in our hospitals and clinics. Thank you for the many hours you’ve put into helping us stabilize during such a challenging time in health care. I also want to thank the numerous team members and partners who have supported our community outreach events throughout the year. As we celebrate these achievements and look ahead to a new year filled with opportunities to improve the health of the River Valley, we express our deepest gratitude to the entire team.
Van Buren • • • • • • • •
Stephen Carney, MD Michael Hines Curtis Howells Ken Kilgore James McGhee Rev. Gary Perry Dorvan Wiley Jim Williamson
Together, we have made 2023 a year of transformation, growth and positive impact on the health and well-being of our community.
Investing in Our Team Employee Pay Raises
At the beginning of 2023, Baptist Health implemented significant pay rate adjustments, establishing ourselves as a market leader within the community. This initiative not only aimed to recognize our team’s hard work and dedication but also served as a powerful tool for recruitment and retention. We are thrilled to report that turnover has been reduced by an impressive 50% compared to the previous year, reinforcing our commitment to fostering a supportive and rewarding work environment.
Reach for the Stars Scholarships
In 2023, nine employees from Baptist Health-Fort Smith were awarded full-tuition scholarships for nursing school thanks to the Reach for the Stars Nursing Scholarship Program, which an anonymous donor fully funded through Baptist Health Foundation. The scholarship finalists were identified through a selection process, including a team of representatives from Baptist Health and the Reach for the Stars program.
Expanding Our Team of Experts Baptist Health welcomed key additions to our medical team over the last year, including three skilled surgeons – Ryan Banning, MD; Peter Cmorej, MD; and Sarahrose Webster, MD – to better meet the surgical needs of the River Valley. We’ve also seen great success with the addition of certified nurse midwives to our obstetrics and gynecology services. Certified nurse midwives have post-graduate training in obstetrics and gynecology and have passed the national board-certification exam administered by the American College of Nurse Midwives. In addition to caring for patients in the clinic, a CNM aids women during childbirth, including monitoring both mother and baby during labor, assisting with pain management and delivering the baby. Nurse practitioners were also added to our family clinic in Alma and our cardiology center in Fort Smith. These strategic hires further position us to provide comprehensive and exceptional care to our community. Ryan Banning, MD General Surgery
Peter Cmorej, MD
Bariatric Surgery, General Surgery
The scholarship provides these employees with a full ride that covers 100 percent of eligible costs, including tuition, educational materials, uniforms and other applicable expenses. Additionally, all scholarship recipients qualify to receive full tuition and supplies if they enroll in a BSN program within six months of obtaining their RN degree. Baptist Health is the only health care organization in Arkansas to partner with the Reach for the Stars Nursing Scholarship Program to provide employees with this amazing opportunity to further their careers. The scholarship funds may be used at any public nursing school if the student qualifies for in-state tuition.
Sarahrose Webster, MD General Surgery
Baptist Health Surgical Clinic-Lexington Avenue 923 Lexington Ave., Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7080
Investing in Our Facilities and Services In 2023, Baptist Health proudly invested in numerous projects to ensure our patients have access to the latest technology and procedures in two key service areas and made great strides in improving patient comfort and reducing our carbon footprint.
Advancing Women’s Health with Cutting-Edge Technology
A significant investment of more than $250,000 brought the Automated Whole-Breast Ultrasound System (ABUS) machine to Baptist Health Breast Center-Fort Smith, making us the first in the River Valley to provide this additional tool in early detection. The state-of-the-art technology provides secondary screening for women with dense breasts, enhancing our ability to detect breast abnormalities early on. This initiative is a testament to our dedication to advancing women’s health and ensuring our community can access the latest diagnostic tools.
Structural Heart Program
Heart disease, including congenital heart defects, affects a large portion of our region. Our cardiology program made enormous strides this year, thanks to the work of Hussam Hawamdeh, MD, an interventional and structural cardiologist who joined us in the fall of 2022. Baptist Health-Fort Smith now offers transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for severe aortic stenosis patients. The TAVR procedure is performed in the cardiac catheterization lab at Baptist Health-Fort Smith using one of many approaches, the most common being the transfemoral, through the upper leg approach. This minimally invasive approach allows Dr. Hawamdeh to place a tissue valve into the heart through a sheath and prevents the patient from undergoing open heart surgery. Dr. Hawamdeh also began offering a procedure that dramatically reduces stroke risk for atrial fibrillation patients who are unable to take blood thinners. Dr. Hawamdeh is the only structural cardiologist to provide the WATCHMAN FLX device in the River Valley. Another first for the region, Baptist Health-Fort Smith, now provides extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). ECMO is a form of life support for people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries that affect the function of their heart or lungs. This will allow our team to stabilize a patient should they need to be transferred to Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock.
“It is a privilege for Baptist Health Breast Center-Fort Smith to provide this new technology to the River Valley,” said James Ireland, MD, radiologist. “ABUS has the potential to reduce false positives, improve sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy of breast lesions in patients who have a history of dense breasts. We are proud to offer this level of care closer to home.”
“In medicine, our efforts are usually focused on improving quality of life or improving life expectancy, however very few treatments actually improve both quality of life and life expectancy. A majority of those treatments are in the realm of structural interventions,” said Dr. Hawamdeh. “The ability to offer these procedures locally alleviate both the financial burden of travel for the patient and their family, as well the emotional burden of being away from home for a life saving procedure.“
In 2023, employee turnover decreased by nearly 14% Transforming Cleanliness and Staff Engagement
The transition from Sodexo to Crothall Healthcare in environmental services (EVS) marked a significant turning point for our hospitals. Cleanliness standards have greatly improved across both facilities, and the enhanced engagement between staff and EVS leadership has created a more cohesive and efficient working environment. This transition represents our ongoing commitment to maintaining the highest cleanliness and safety standards for our patients and staff.
Baptist Health Foundation Expands to River Valley
Dawn Turner joined Baptist Health Foundation as the development and special event officer for Baptist Health-Fort Smith and Baptist Health-Van Buren. In the first six months alone, the foundation has raised roughly $30,000 from in-kind donations, grants and special events for projects in the River Valley. We are excited to see how Dawn will continue to strengthen our relationship with our community partners – ultimately to improve our ability to provide hope and healing to our patients.
Energy Conservation Project
Our ongoing energy conservation project at Baptist Health-Fort Smith reached new heights in 2023. With significant progress achieved, we anticipate electrical utility savings of $2,563,086 and guaranteed natural gas savings exceeding $8,272,000 by year 3 post-project completion. This initiative reflects our commitment to financial responsibility and underscores our dedication to sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Investing in Our Communities Engaging the Next Generation of Health Care Providers
We have an enriching relationship with higher education institutes such as the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Colleges of Health Education to provide training for the next generation of nurses, physical and occupational therapists, radiologic technologist, physicians and several other skilled clinicians. In 2023, we expanded our reach even further by partnering with Fort Smith Public Schools to open Darby Middle School’s Health Sciences Academy located in the Baptist Health Medical Plaza. It’s exciting to be able to share the opportunities in health care with students as young as 12 years old. Our ongoing partnerships with Peak Innovation Center and Western Arkansas Technical Center (WATC) at UAFS will continue to allow us to reach these students again as they prepare to graduate from high school and enter the workforce.
HEALTH SCIENCES ACADEMY
Cultivating Hope and Addressing Food Insecurity
In a groundbreaking initiative, a rooftop garden was established in 2023 to address food insecurity among our patient population. This innovative project makes Baptist Health-Fort Smith the first in the state and one of 25 in the nation with a rooftop garden. Capable of producing 27 different crops, this garden exemplifies our commitment to holistic care, sustainability and community well-being.
Expanding the Food Rx Program
Thanks to the Baptist Health Foundation’s work, we’ve expanded the Baptist Health Food Rx program to patients in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. The program provides a three-day food supply for a family of four to admitted patients who are identified as often experiencing food insecurity. This bag features shelf-stable products that can last approximately three days. Additionally, with these bags, patients receive a resource card that identifies food banks and nutrition resources in the area that can assist them. With the harvest of the aforementioned rooftop garden, patients will receive fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables in addition to the shelf-stable items.
Baptist Health Western Region Primary Service Area SEQUOYAH COUNTY
SEQUOYAH COUNTY SEQUOYAH COUNTY
CRAWFORD COUNTY CRAWFORD COUNTY SEBASTIAN COUNTY SEBASTIAN COUNTY
LEFLORE COUNTY LEFLORE COUNTY LEFLORE COUNTY
CRAWFORD COUNTY
SEBASTIAN COUNTY
Celebrating Our Wins Recognizing Excellence in Health Care
We are honored to share that Baptist Health Fort Smith was awarded the prestigious “Best Hospital” title in the annual Best of the River Valley Awards. This recognition, chosen by community voters, speaks to our unwavering commitment to delivering outstanding healthcare services and positively impacting the lives of those we serve. Yet again, we continue to be recognized annually for our timely and proper care of heart attack and stroke patients. Baptist Health-Fort Smith earned the American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines ®-Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll and Target Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll and the Heart Failure Gold Plus with Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. The American College of Cardiology awarded Baptist Health-Fort Smith with the Chest Pain Center Accreditation with Primary PCI based on rigorous onsite evaluation of the staff’s ability to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients who may be experiencing a heart attack. As part of our continuing effort to improve women’s and children’s health services, we were recognized by the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program as a “Gold Safe Sleep” level for our commitment to best practices and education on infant safe sleep for staff and families. The National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program was created by Cribs for Kids®, a national infant safe sleep organization.
Milestones and Anniversaries
In 2023, we celebrated our 5th anniversary of becoming Baptist Health, as well as a few other notable milestones. Kyle Basham, MD, and John David Terrell, MD, of Baptist Health Urology Clinic-Fort Smith celebrated a milestone in Aquablation therapy for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The physicians completed over 100 procedures in the Spring, making them a leader in Arkansas. “Aquablation has provided a valuable tool to treat an extremely common problem the aging male experiences,” said Dr. Terrell. “Having this technology has reduced postoperative stay and minimized recovery time. It allows a minimally invasive approach to treat a subset of men. We are very appreciative of Baptist Health’s investment into this cutting edge technology.” Aquablation therapy uses the power of water delivered with robotic precision to provide best-in-class and long-lasting symptom relief with low rates of irreversible complications, regardless of prostate size or shape. Baptist Health is the first health care system in the state to utilize Aquablation therapy.
John Terrell, MD
Kyle Basham, MD
Marvin Altman Fitness Center (MAFC) inside Baptist Health-Fort Smith celebrated its 35th anniversary this past year. MAFC offers a wide variety of fitness classes, an indoor track, an indoor lap pool and the latest exercise equipment to employees at a heavily discounted rate and to the general public with monthly or yearly memberships. The fitness center is also home to our cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs. It is a great asset to have such an excellent center available for our patients and staff. Baptist Health Senior Care Behavioral Health-Fort Smith celebrated 20 years of providing excellent behavioral and mental health services to the area’s aging population. The specially-trained physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, rehabilitation specialists and case workers at Baptist Health’s 23-bed inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit provide diagnoses and customized treatment plans for adults, ages 55 and older, experiencing acute mental health problems. While the patients are hospitalized to treat a psychiatric condition, they can also receive an array of services, if needed, including medical evaluation, physical therapy, occupational therapy and recreation therapy.
Find a Doctor Near You Baptist Health Adult Medicine Specialists-Fort Smith 1120 Lexington Avenue, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7260
Baptist Health Behavioral Health Services-Fort Smith 1001 Towson Avenue Ste. 500, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7455
Baptist Health Cancer Center-Fort Smith
1001 Towson Avenue Ste. 300, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7435
Baptist Health Cardiology Center-Fort Smith
1500 Dodson Avenue Ste. 60, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7325
Baptist Health Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery Center-Fort Smith 1500 Dodson Avenue Ste. 285, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7025
Baptist Health Foot and Ankle Clinic-Fort Smith 5428 Ellsworth Road Ste. B, Fort Smith, AR 72903 (479) 573-7905
Baptist Health Gastroenterology Clinic-Fort Smith 1001 Towson Avenue Ste. 100, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7430
Baptist Health La Clínica Del Pueblo
4700 Kelley Highway Ste. B, Fort Smith, AR 72904 (479) 573-7995
Baptist Health Lung Center-Fort Smith
1001 Towson Avenue Ste. 400, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7433
Baptist Health Neuroscience Center-Fort Smith 1500 Dodson Avenue Ste. 290, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7175
Baptist Health Endocrinology Clinic-Fort Smith
Baptist Health Orthopedics Clinic-Fort Smith
Baptist Health Family Clinic-Alma
Baptist Health Pediatric Clinic-Fort Smith
Baptist Health Family Clinic-Dodson Ave Suite 195
Baptist Health Renal Care-Fort Smith
Baptist Health Family Clinic-Ellsworth
Baptist Health Specialty Clinic-Fort Smith
Baptist Health Family Clinic-Greenwood
Baptist Health Specialty Clinic-Van Buren
520 Towson Avenue Ste. C, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 573-7970 937 Hwy 64 East, Alma, AR 72921 (479) 632-3855
1500 Dodson Avenue Ste 195, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 573-7910 5428 Ellsworth Road Ste. A, Fort Smith, AR 72903 (479) 709-7440 1480 West Center St, Greenwood, AR 72936 (479) 996-5585
Baptist Health Family Clinic-Kelley Hwy
1506 Dodson Avenue, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7000
1500 Dodson Avenue Ste. 260, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7337 1500 Dodson Avenue Ste. 280, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7480 1001 Towson Avenue Ste. 200, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7447 209 W Pointer Trail Ste. B, Van Buren, AR 72956 (479) 471-4290
Baptist Health Surgical Clinic-Dodson Ave. Ste. 250
4700 Kelley Highway Ste. A, Fort Smith, AR 72904 (479) 573-7990
1500 Dodson Avenue Ste. 250, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 573-7940
Baptist Health Family Clinic-Massard
Baptist Health Surgical Clinic-Lexington Ave.
Baptist Health Family Clinic-South
Baptist Health Urology Clinic-Fort Smith
Baptist Health Family Clinic-Southpointe
Baptist Health Walk-In Clinic
Baptist Health Family Clinic-Van Buren
Baptist Health Women’s Clinic-Fort Smith
6100 Massard Road, Fort Smith, AR 72916 (479) 709-7250 8600 South 36th Terrace Ste. A, Fort Smith, AR 72908 (479) 709-7465 3808 Gary Street Ste. A, Fort Smith, AR 72903 (479) 709-7120 209 W Pointer Trail Ste. A, Van Buren, AR 72956 (479) 474-1100
923 Lexington Ave., Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7080
5500 Ellsworth Road, Fort Smith, AR 72903 (479) 709-7295
3808 Gary Street Suite B, Fort Smith, AR 72903 (479) 709-7020 1500 Dodson Avenue Ste. 230, Fort Smith, AR 72901 (479) 709-7490
Our Leaders
Jeff Carrier Region President (479) 441-5407 jeffrey.carrier@baptist-health.org
Shane Jennings, MD Chief Medical Officer (479) 441-5136 shane.jennings@baptist-health.org
Brad Mitchell AVP Hospital & Practice Operations (479) 709-1926 brad.mitchell@baptist-health.org
Christian Gross VP Hospital Operations (479) 494-6180 christian.gross@baptist-health.org
Stephanie Parson Clinical Quality Executive (479) 441-5141 stephanie-parson@baptist-health.org
FOR YOU. FOR LIFE.
Baptist Health Healthline 1-888-227-8478 baptist-health.com