Baptist Health of Arkansas: Dedicated to Wellness, Driven by Purpose

Baptist Health is Arkansas' most comprehensive healthcare organization, offering over 300 points of access, including 12 hospitals, urgent care centers, a senior living community, and more than 75 primary and specialty care clinics.

In addition to direct patient care, Baptist Health supports healthcare education and training through a college offering nursing and allied health studies, a graduate residency program, and medical science academy partnerships with school districts in Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Fort Smith.

As Arkansas' largest not-for-profit healthcare organization, Baptist Health is dedicated to providing quality patient-centered services wherever patients are. This mission is upheld by approximately 12,000 employees, groundbreaking treatments, renowned physicians, and extensive community outreach programs. The organization is committed to promoting and protecting the voluntary not-for-profit healthcare system, providing quality health education, and responding to the evolving health needs of Arkansas residents with Christian compassion and personal concern.

The origins of Baptist Health trace back to late 1920 when the Arkansas Baptist State Convention acquired the former Little Rock Sanitarium property. Temporary operations began in the sanitarium building, leading to the official incorporation of the Baptist State Hospital by the Pulaski County Circuit Court on February 16, 1921. Although the original hospital started with fewer than one hundred beds, it served 1,315 patients in its first year.

From these humble beginnings as Baptist State Hospital to the extensive Baptist Health system of today, the core purpose has remained constant for over a century: to foster a healthier community through Christian compassion and innovative services. Baptist Health is more than just a business; it is a healing ministry.

Baptist Health has consistently provided cutting-edge care throughout its history, introducing significant advancements such as:

• The first psychiatric unit in a private Arkansas hospital.
• The state’s first open-heart surgery performed in a private hospital.
• The first heart transplant surgery in Arkansas.
• The first in-state hospital to perform single-site robotic surgery.
• The state’s first total artificial heart transplant.

Mission

Baptist Health exists to provide quality patient- centered services, promote and protect the voluntary not-for-profit health care system, provide quality health education, and respond to the changing health needs of those we serve with Christian compassion and personal concern.

Vision

Baptist Health will be the most trusted and innovative health care system in Arkansas.

Values

• Service: Quality service is the foundation of any successful business and is even more essential in the provision of health care. Our success is dependent on each employee’s desire and commitment to serve others.
• Honesty: Adherence to the moral values of fairness, integrity, and honor in all relationships is a major priority.
• Respect: All people are to be treated as individuals with courtesy and thoughtfulness. Respect for each person’s dignity and worth is essential. Patients are to be treated with concern and compassion.
• Stewardship: We prudently commit to resources, using our talent and strengths in an effective and efficient manner. Our facilities and equipment are maintained with pride.
• Performance: Desired characteristics of Baptist Health employees include initiative, dedication, talent, and knowledge tempered by common sense. The highest possible performance of all employees is expected, but never at the expense of our values. It is imperative that complacency and mediocrity be avoided through innovation and progress.

Belief

Baptist Health is more than just a business — it is a healing ministry. Our healing ministry is based on the revelation of God through creation, the Bible, and Jesus Christ. At Baptist Health, care of the whole person — body, mind, and spirit — is an expression of Christian faith. We are instruments of God’s restorative power and are responsible for giving compassionate care.