Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi won the overall Best Oxford Business award and Saint Leo Restaurant won the Best New Oxford Business award during the Best of Oxford 2017, presented by Oxford University Bank.

BMH-NM, one of Lafayette County’s largest employers, will move into a new, state-of-the-art facility later this year, signaling a long-term commitment to excellent healthcare for Oxford and its surrounding community.

“It is an honor to receive this recognition as Oxford’s best business, because we know our employees and physicians put their hearts into their work every day,” said BMH-NM CEO Bill Henning. “We strive each day to provide quality care to the residents of Lafayette County and the surrounding areas. We offer many services that can only be found in larger, metro areas, but our caring colleagues give Baptist North Mississippi a hometown feel. It puts us in a very unique position.

“Our medical staff is also second to none,” Henning said. “Oxford is fortunate to have such a large number of medical specialties concentrated in a town this size.”

Saint Leo making plans

Saint Leo restaurant, opened on the Oxford Square by Emily Blount in 2016, was named the Best New Oxford Business. The overall awards were presented Thursday night during the Best of Oxford celebration at The Lyric.

“This first year has been truly amazing,” said Blount, with Saint Leo recently celebrating its first anniversary. “I am so proud of the people who make Saint Leo possible every day — my amazing staff, our community that has supported us from day one, and the great purveyors that we work with every day.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better reception to the restaurant world of Oxford and I’m excited to keep on learning, improving and growing,” Blount said.

The ambition for Saint Leo was to “create a place that serves great, simple, fresh food in a beautiful yet comfortable environment with outstanding service,” creating a ‘clubhouse’ of sorts for the community of Oxford to enjoy and call their own, according to Blount.

She also said there are some “exciting projects planned for the near future.”

“Stay tuned,” Blount said.

BMH committed

Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi will culminate 2017 by moving into its new hospital this November. The project has been in development for several years.

“Moving into the new hospital further positions us to continue our growth as a regional referral center,” Henning said. “Our new hospital will improve the experience for patients and their families and enhance the working environment for our health care providers. We feel that this high-quality facility will also ensure that even more physicians and staff will be drawn to this area to live and work.”

It’s all about a long-term commitment to health care in Oxford and Lafayette County, making Baptist an easy selection for the overall Best Oxford Business award for 2017.

“We have made a commitment to this community, and we will continue to honor that commitment by adding advanced technology, new service lines and enhancing our care to meet the needs of our patients,” Henning said. “We’re not only looking forward to November 25, 2017, when we will take our first patients at 1100 Belk Boulevard, but we are also looking forward to serving this community for many years to come.

“Oxford and Lafayette County are growing, and we’re growing with them.”