Mississippi’s first skilled pediatric medical center celebrated its opening Tuesday with a ribbon cutting in Jackson. 

The Alyce G. Clarke Center for Medically Fragile Children will provide long-term care for patients younger than 19 years old with complex medical conditions and training for others’ families to care for them at home. It is a part of Children’s of Mississippi, the pediatric arm of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. 

“The Alyce G. Clarke Center is so much more than a building,” Dr. Mary Taylor, the Suzan B Thames Chair and professor of pediatrics at UMMC, said in a press release.

“It represents hope, and we are so proud that this is going to be a new home for children with special needs. The medical care they need will be provided here, and also supportive care for their families.” 

The facility has already admitted its first patient, UMMC spokesperson Annie Oeth told Mississippi Today. 

The $15.9 million, 20-bed facility is located about two and a half miles from the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s main campus on North State Street. It has two wings, each with a shared area that serves as a living room. 

“It took a whole team of people from the entire state of Mississippi to come together to get this beautiful building built,” said Dr. Alan Jones, UMMC’s associate vice chancellor for health affairs, in a press release. “This building and the people who staff it will deliver life-changing care.” 

The pediatric facility’s opening comes after several delays and scrutiny over funding and location. 

The center held its first groundbreaking in 2019 and planned to begin construction in 2021. But the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the project due to rising costs and supply chain issues, Jones said in a previous press release. 

UMMC awarded the contract to Mid State Construction Co. Inc. in February 2024, and construction of the facility began in August 2024. 

The project was funded with $14.5 million in bonds awarded by the state Legislature in 2019 and 2020. However, the project was originally intended to be paid for by private funders and constructed, owned and operated by a nonprofit. 

The nonprofit that would spearhead and fundraise for the project, Mississippi Center for Medically Fragile Children, was set up by then-First Lady Deborah Bryant’s chief of staff. Nancy New, the Families First leader who pleaded guilty in 2022 for her role in channeling Mississippi welfare grant funds for illegal projects, served on the nonprofit’s board. 

After New was arrested in 2020, she was removed from the board, the nonprofit dissolved, and Children’s of Mississippi assumed responsibility for the project. The nonprofit transferred its remaining funds to UMMC. 

The center is named for former Rep. Clarke, the first African American woman to serve in the Mississippi Legislature and a longtime advocate for the project. 

She became involved when Calvary Baptist Church in west Jackson, the area Clarke represented, planned to renovate its building to house the center. The church was ultimately left out of the plan after years of working on the proposal. Some lawmakers argued that state leaders hijacked the church’s proposal in order to place the center near the wealthier neighborhood of Eastover in Jackson. 

Children’s of Mississippi has provided long-term care to patients in an acute-care hospital setting for years. The new building will serve as a bridge from pediatric inpatient care to home for patients and parents. 

“This center will be able to provide medical care for these special children and education for their families in learning to care for them, but it will be a safe, warm place that will feel like home,” Taylor said.