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FOG

1985-1987

"Jay Henry goes beyond managing. Utilizing exceptional skills as a visionary leader, he has always looked at five-year, 10-year segments of our growth and development. But no man, however capable and gifted, works in a void. His greatest talent has been the ability to surround himself with excellent staff. As Baptist moved into big-time health care, he had the foresight to attract outstanding lieutenants, thus demonstrating the ultimate abilities of the true leader."- Ken Bonds
Governing Board Chairman

With the creation of the Oklahoma Heart Center the previous year, Baptist Medical Center was a regional resource for state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment by 1985. Dr. Nazhi Zuhdi performed the first heart transplant in Oklahoma that year, and the Cancer Center of the Southwest joined the BMC Centers of Excellence.

One of Baptist Medical Center’s most important leaps forward occurred when Dr. Nazih Zuhdi performed Oklahoma’s first human heart transplant in 1985. That same year, the medical center added the Cancer Center of the Southwest, the state’s first dedicated cancer treatment center, to its Centers of Excellence. Originally directed by Dr. James W. Hampton, it is now known as the Troy and Dollie Smith Cancer Center.

Another Oklahoma first at the medical center occurred when Dr. Jack Van Doren Hough performed a cochlear implant on a child, marking one of the first times in the country that a child received the gift of hearing.

The BMC Centers of Excellence expanded again with the opening of the Henry G. Bennett Jr. Fertility Institute in 1986. The Baptist Laser Institute, the Third Age Life Center dedicated to seniors’ health needs, and the new Baptist Medical Plaza, now known as Building B, all opened in the same year.

Having guided Baptist Medical Center through 25 years of remarkable growth, Jay Henry retired in 1986. He recommended Stanley E. “Stan” Hupfeld, head of All Saints Episcopal Hospital in Ft. Worth, Texas, as his successor. The governing board hired Hupfeld as president and CEO of the Oklahoma Healthcare Corp. in 1987, and he immediately started working with the medical center’s leaders to develop new long-range plans.

As always, clinical innovations continued as plans for future expansion formed. BMC introduced a Rehabilitation Services department, Dr. E.N. “Scott” Samara performed the state’s first kidney transplant, and Dr. Zuhdi performed the state’s first heart-lung transplant. BMC also opened the first of several Primary Care Centers in the greater Oklahoma City area and purchased the Physicians Professional Building at Grand Boulevard and Northwest Highway.

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