Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center
Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center
Section I: Summary
Jackson’s first shopping mall, built in 1969, was for years the largest mall within 400 miles of the metropolitan area, drawing customers to its stores from throughout the state of Mississippi. But as newer malls sprang up in Jackson, the original mall gradually lost much of its business and was forced to close in the mid-1980s. The once-vibrant neighborhood surrounding the mall also fell into decline. Within a decade, the vacant mall became a crime-ridden eyesore and its neighborhood was economically depressed.
At the time, most of the people living in the neighborhood had low incomes, were dependent on public transportation, and had limited health care services available in their area. Many residents had enormous difficulty accessing high-quality, comprehensive health care.
Section II: Statement of purpose
In 1995, Jackson physician Aaron Shirley, MD, was walking through the empty corridors of the former mall when he had an idea. Dr. Shirley was then project director of the Jackson Hinds Comprehensive Health Center, the largest community health center in Mississippi. Dr. Shirley’s idea was to turn the dilapidated shopping mall into a comprehensive, multidisciplinary health care complex serving the low-income residents of Jackson. He envisioned the new health care facility as a community-based venture that would not only improve people’s health, but also revitalize the surrounding neighborhood.
Dr. Shirley’s vision has become what is now the Jackson Medical Mall – a one-stop, comprehensive health care facility that also offers human services and economic development. The Medical Mall’s health care and human service providers serve about 170,000 people each year, drawing patients from throughout central Mississippi.
When Dr. Shirley first conceived of the idea of turning the mall into a health care complex, he mentioned it to his friend Reuben V. Anderson, an attorney and former Mississippi Supreme Court justice. Together, they presented the idea Developing a Business Plan to Dr. Wallace Conerly, vice-chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC). UMC was at that time, and remains the state’s only comprehensive medical school and research center.
At the time, the Medical Center’s teaching clinics had outgrown their space on the Medical Center campus, but it seemed too expensive to build a new, freestanding ambulatory care center on campus. Presented with the idea of transforming the old Jackson mall into a health care facility, the Medical Center moved quickly to help create the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, which purchased the mall in 1995 for $2.7 million with loans from three prominent banking institutions. Its teaching clinics now occupy what was once a large department store and has since been completely renovated.
Other partners in the Medical Mall include Tougaloo College and Jackson State University, which were added to the team to develop and offer educational opportunities at the mall. Together, all of these partners became the board of directors of the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, which is chaired by Dr. Shirley.
Section III: Outcomes
The mall re-opened as a health care facility in 1996, the year after it was purchased. Since then, both the Medical Center and the Hinds County Health Department have operated primary care centers at the mall where patients can gain access to the system without physician referral. Using case management procedures, these clinics coordinate patient care with the Medical Center’s outpatient specialty clinics and other health care providers in the mall.
In addition to delivering health care and human services, the Medical Mall is putting increased emphasis on the third part of its mission: economic revitalization in the community. Throughout the construction and renovation process, the Mall Foundation awarded millions of dollars in contracts to small and disadvantaged contractors. The mall has also hired dozens of minority-owned firms as subcontractors and vendors. Now the mall has started to bring in tenants that can help neighborhood residents find employment and earn their Graduate Equivalent Degree (GED).
Contact information
For more information, contact:
Kelli Sharpe
Jackson Hinds Comprehensive Health Center,
University of Miss Medical Center, Tougaloo College and Jackson State
Jackson Mississippi
Phone: 601-982-8467 ext. 17
ksharpe@jacksonmedicalmall.org
http://www.healthyjackson.org/