[StBernard] Temporary Hospital to Open in Chalmette, Followed By Permanent Physician-Run Facility

[Westley Annis]

Temporary Hospital to Open in Chalmette, Followed By Permanent Physician-Run
Facility 
By: Steve Cannizaro

St. Bernard Parish Government, Oct. 13, 2005

A temporary hospital could be put up in Chalmette within weeks and then a
permanent physician-run facility is planned for the next 18 months to two
years, according to the doctors involved.

The new medical facilities are seen as key components in the rebuilding of
St. Bernard, parish officials said.

Chalmette Medical Center, which had more than 200 beds, was destroyed in
Hurricane Katrina and its owners have said it won't be re-opened.

But three doctors who practiced at Chalmette Medical Center, Parish Coroner
Dr. Bryan Bertucci, Dr. Paul Verrette and Dr. Lee Domangue, will oversee the
long-range plan to establish a permanent hospital again in St. Bernard
Parish, which was devastated by the Aug. 29 hurricane.

"The rebuilding of this parish will not be stunted by a lack of a quality
medical facility,'' said Verrette, an internal medicine specialist.
Domangue, head of emergency services at Chalmette Medical, and Bertucci, who
had a family medical practice, said they are all eager to get back to
dealing with patients.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is involved in bringing in equipment
to set up a temporary hospital. Donations of equipment also have been made.
The facility would take about two weeks to set up after all the components
arrive.

It would be set up in the parking lot of the Super Wal-Mart on West Judge
Perez Drive in Chalmette.

The temporary hospital will replace a disaster management team that has
operated for weeks at Chalmette High school's football stadium. The
temporary site will offer numerous services such as an emergency room,
surgical suites and radiology and have the capability to perform lab work, a
CAT scan, MRI and endoscopy, Domangue said.

"Hopefully we can expand it as the population grows'' again in St. Bernard,
Bertucci said.

"Once we get established we hope to have a long-term permanent facility in
place in 18 to 24 months,'' Domanague said.

The permanent facility would be "controlled by physicians of this parish
working at the hospital, not administrators making decisions without
doctors,'' Domanague said.