Baptist Health is spending $70 million on an unprecedented systemwide upgrade of the infrastructure and energy efficiency of its eight campuses across Arkansas, including a $34 million upgrade at its main campus in Little Rock.
"Although we have replaced equipment over time while always considering the associated energy impact, this is a first for Baptist Health for an infrastructure renewal and energy conservation project of this magnitude," said Cara Wade, spokeswoman for the medical system.
Baptist accepted its first patient at its Little Rock campus on March 3, 1974.
The work is focused on the mechanical and electronic equipment that the system, which is the largest based in Arkansas, needs to heat and cool its hospitals and clinics.
"Infrastructure renewal includes non-patient care equipment such as chillers, cooling towers, pumps, and direct digital controls to replace existing pneumatic control systems," Wade said in an email. "Some areas will receive meters and associated utility energy usage measuring equipment only."
The work will cover Baptist Health campuses in Little Rock, Fort Smith, North Little Rock, Arkadelphia, Conway, Van Buren, Heber Springs as well as one in Southwest Little Rock.
At the main campus, the $34 million in work will cover the main hospital as well as the other buildings on the campus from the Baptist Health Rehabilitation Institute to the Hickingbotham Outpatient Center, according to Wade.
Work began in late September 2021, she said. It is expected to take two years.
"Utility energy usage measuring will continue for an additional three years," Wade said.
Patients and their families won't be affected by the work.
"It will not interrupt clinical services," Wade said. "When utility tie-ins are required, we will have worked out the most efficient, effective method for decreasing down time, and they will take place at off-peak hours such as weekend nights."
The Baptist Health system, the largest private not-for-profit health organization based in Arkansas, employs 11,000 people and includes 11 hospitals; urgent care centers; a senior living community; more than 100 primary and specialty care clinics; a college with studies in nursing and allied health; a graduate residency program; and access to virtual care.