Company Profile
Baptist Health
Company Overview
Baptist Health Rehabilitation Center-North Little Rock and Baptist Health Rehabilitation Institute in Little Rock have been named as being in the top 10 percent of performers in the nation by Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation of Amherst, N.Y.
BAPTIST HEALTH Rehabilitation Institute and its outpatient clinics use an exciting new technology called the Bioness System. The Ness H200 Hand Rehabilitation System is used to help those with upper limb impairments, and the Ness L300 system is used to assist those with foot drop to regain a more normal gait. These therapy systems are available as either inpatient or outpatient therapy.
BAPTIST HEALTH Rehabilitation Institute offers specialized programs for all of our rehabiltation patients. BHRI is the only facility in the state to be accredited by CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) in brain injury and spinal cord injury rehabilitation and is the first in the state to be CARF accredited in stroke rehabilitation.
BHRI outpatient services offer driving evaluations to assess safety and independence for those with visual, physical or cognitive impairments or advancing age. The evaluation focuses on skills needed for safe driving. There are two parts, a pre-driving assessment and an on-the-road test. The results are used to make recommendations regarding ability, adaptive equipment or alternative transportation options.
BHRI outpatient offers pool therapy for those who need structured indivdualized therapy but are unable to participate in a land-based program. Diagnoses that benefit from pool therapy include arthritis, acute and chronic low back pain, post-surgical back pain, total joint replacements, myofascial pain, fibromyalgia and stroke.
The types of problems that bring people to rehab centers are sometimes tragic and life changing. Even the less complex rehabilitation issues can significantly impact one's day to day living.
We are very sensitive to every need and concern experienced by our patients and their families. We unite as a team, a team which includes the patient and their family, with the goal of restoring the highest level of function, self-reliance, self-esteem and quality of life.
Company History
Baptist Health, Arkansas’s largest healthcare system, has hospital campuses in Little Rock (Pulaski County), North Little Rock (Pulaski County), Arkadelphia (Clark County), and Heber Springs (Cleburne County). In addition to its medical centers, it also operates therapy centers, physician clinics, a retirement village, and a school of nursing and allied health.
Baptist Health began in 1919 when the Arkansas Baptist State Convention voted to create a modern scientific hospital in Little Rock. The Baptist State Hospital opened with seventy-five beds in November 1920. In its first year of operation, the hospital treated 1,026 patients. Dr. J. S. Rogers was appointed superintendent of the hospital. The Baptist Health School of Nursing also began in 1920 and graduated its first class in 1921.
In 1921, construction began on a 300-bed, five-story brick building, which was formally opened on January 1, 1925. In December 1945, Baptist established the first eye bank in Arkansas and initiated a cornea transplant program. In October 1946, John Gilbreath was named administrator, and one of his first major accomplishments was the establishment of a hospital and medical insurance program. The year ended with the name of the hospital changing from Baptist State Hospital to Arkansas Baptist Hospital.
In 1954, Baptist became the first hospital in Little Rock to employ African-American doctors. In 1955, Arkansas Baptist Hospital became the first hospital in the state to initiate a hostess program, which provided a full-time hostess to assist patients and their families. On April 12, 1961, the world’s first open-heart surgery in a private hospital was performed at Baptist. Later that year, a new heart catheterization lab was established, and the first intensive care unit (ICU) in Arkansas was opened.
On January 28, 1962, the hospital opened Memorial Hospital, a 118-bed facility, in North Little Rock. In 1965, Arkansas Baptist Hospital’s name was changed to Arkansas Baptist Medical Center. The following year, trustees recommended that the hospital be transferred to a private, not-for-profit corporation, the membership of which was to come from among members of Arkansas Baptist State Convention churches, so that the hospital might receive federal funds without violating the convention’s principle of separation of church and state. Late in 1968, the Arkansas Baptist Medical Center System was formed, and in September 1969, the word “Arkansas” was dropped from the name of the flagship hospital of the new system, which became Baptist Medical Center.
In July 1970, the system acquired a 213-acre tract of land now in western Little Rock for expansion, and groundbreaking ceremonies were held there in June 1971 for a new 534-bed facility that is now Baptist Medical Center, while the downtown facility’s name was changed to Central Baptist Hospital. The January 12, 1974, grand opening ceremonies for the new center included a dedication speech by then U.S. vice president Gerald Ford.
In 1981, Baptist Medical Center System expanded its outreach when it entered into a lease agreement to operate Twin Rivers Medical Center and Clark County Nursing Home in Arkadelphia. On July 8, 1982, the board of trustees incorporated Parkway Village to provide continuing care for senior citizens. The first residents moved into Parkway Village on May 5, 1985. On January 1, 1983, Baptist Medical System moved all acute-care services from Central Baptist Hospital to Baptist Medical Center, using the older hospital building for several years as a rehabilitation center. In 1995, the system shortened its name to Baptist Health.
On November 1, 1996, Baptist Health added its fifth hospital to the system, Baptist Health Medical Center–Heber Springs. Eventually, a new hospital was constructed due to the growth of the community at a new location on the Highway 25 bypass and was dedicated on June 19, 2007. In November 1999, Baptist Health Memorial Medical Center moved into its new facility located at 3333 Springhill Drive in North Little Rock, with the official dedication ceremony on October 24, 1999, and in June 2000, it changed its name to Baptist Health Medical Center–North Little Rock. In 2008, Baptist Health Extended Care Hospital, located on the tenth floor of Baptist Health Medical Center–Little Rock, became the system’s sixth hospital. Also in 2008, Stuttgart Regional Medical Center was acquired and renamed the Baptist Health Medical Center–Stuttgart in January 2009, becoming the system’s seventh hospital. As of 2009, the Baptist Health system currently offers healthcare services at more than 130 access points throughout the state.