Pediatric ER Breaks Ground at Tenn. Hospital

July 11--Children equipped with blue plastic shovels and child-sized hart hats drew laughter Thursday as Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $14.1 million project that will add a pediatric emergency department.

The project is phase two of plans that started in May 2012 to move pediatric services to the hospital for women from Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis on the East Memphis campus bordering Humprheys Boulevard.

The new pediatric emergency room is scheduled to open in the spring of 2015.

The emotional highlight of the ground breaking ceremony, initially held in the lobby of the hospital for women, was a tearful speech by 12-year-old Arianna Ervin, who described her struggle to live after her birth at the hospital for women and noted that she is an honor student who loves Justin Bieber.

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