Mike Perkins, Bob Shell, Dr. John Ransom, Doug Weeks, George O'Connor, Dr. Robert Casali & Russ Harrington

The Baptist Health Transplant Institute at The Brown Foundation Transplant Center, a 5,320-square-foot facility located on the Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock (BHMC-Little Rock) campus, is Arkansas’ first center devoted exclusively to heart and kidney transplants.

Construction of the $2.2 million institute occupies space on the third and fourth floors in the Hickingbotham Outpatient Center on the campus and was funded thanks to an extraordinary gift from The Brown Foundation of Houston, Texas, Inc., funds raised through last year’s Bolo Bash plus other generous donations including those from Dr. John and Kathy Ransom, Mike and Beth Coulson, the Mabee Foundation, Joann Bunch, and Sam Alley.

Dr. John Ransom, who oversees Baptist Health’s heart transplant program, initially suggested the concept and then followed through with the largest physician contribution ever given to the Baptist Health Foundation to help make the Transplant Institute become a reality.

“Baptist Health has always been a wonderful place to work and has always stepped up to the plate to give us what we need,” Ransom said.

The heart and kidney transplant programs began in 1989 when Baptist Health performed the state’s first heart transplant. Currently, Baptist Health is the only active adult heart-transplant provider and the only adult ventricular-assist-device provider in Arkansas. To date, 172 people have received a new heart at Baptist Health and 772 people have received a new kidney.

This new institute will provide one central location for patients who have had a transplant or are awaiting a transplant to be evaluated in the most timely and comfortable manner. This comprehensive unit will help keep some transplant patients from having to leave the state in order to have heart and kidney transplants and provide more transplantation services to Arkansans. (more…)