[StBernard] Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady May Run Medical Clinic

[Westley Annis]

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady May Run Medical Clinic

February 5 , 2006

By: Steve Cannizaro


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Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady may run medical clinic and later build a
hospital in St. Bernard


A nonprofit health care system that runs Our Lady of the Lake Regional
Medical Center in Baton Rouge  hopes to open a new hospital in St. Bernard
Parish in about 18 months and take control of a 22,000 square foot medical
clinic being built in Chalmette, the first commitment by a health
organization to provide services in St. Bernard since Hurricane Katrina.

Brian Barbeito, director of outreach for the Franciscan Missionaries of Our
Lady, which operates five Louisiana hospitals including Our Lady of the
Lake, told St. Bernard Parish Council members the organization is committed
to taking over the clinic at the end of February, when a federal contract to
run it expires. Barbeito also said the group is considering opening a
hospital in St. Bernard which could be built in about 18 months.

Universal Health Services, which operated Chalmette Medical Center that was
destroyed in the hurricane, has not reopened.

Barbeito also told council members the Franciscan group will need financial
help to take over the clinic that is now in a triple-wide trailer at the
disaster relief center in Chalmette and will soon move into a 22,000 square
foot facility.  Council members had some legal questions at a committee
meeting about whether the parish can offer financial assistance, but they
voted to recommend that the full council include a line item in the parish
budget allowing it to use any donations or grants to help with medical
services.

"That medical facility is as important for this community to come back as
having water and electricity," Council member  Judy Hoffmeister said of the
clinic.

Council Vice Chairman Joseph DiFatta Jr. said he would meet with School
Board officials to see whether federal money dedicated for health services
to students can be used for the clinic.

Three local doctors have been running the free health clinic since Katrina,
but they told council members last month that they needed money to continue
operating.
Dr. Lee Domangue, an emergency room doctor; coroner Dr. Bryan Bertucci, a
family practice doctor; and Dr. Paul Verrette, an internal medicine
specialist, have operated the clinic in a triple-wide trailer with financing
and staffing assistance from the U.S. Public Health Service.

But the federal government is phasing itself out of the picture. FEMA is
setting up a 22,000-square-foot metal building for clinic and emergency care
behind the trailer clinic but the agency will not provide money to run the
facility, Domangue said, because the parish doesn't qualify for public
assistance since it had no public health care before Katrina.

Council Chairman Lynn Dean said it was wrong for government to get involved
in health care, but Barbeito said the facility doesn't necessarily need an
operating grant. Franciscan officials are searching for available grant
money, but the group would need the government as a sponsor to allocate the
money if it becomes available, he said.

Mike Pisciotta, who would be the Franciscans' operating manager for the
clinic, said the group is coming to Chalmette because there is a need, not
because it is a moneymaker.
"The Franciscan missionaries have a goal and a mission to take care of the
people who are in need and the sick," Pisciotta said. "That is their primary
mission statement. That is what brings them here."

Besides Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge, the Franciscan group operates
hospitals in Lafayette, Monroe, and Gonzalez, with a total of more than
1,600 licensed beds and 6,300 employees, including 1,700 physicians. The
group also owns Calais Health LLC, which provides corporate and behavioral
health services.

At Thursday's committee meeting, Domangue renewed a request he made last
month that the clinic needed help with about half of its $266,000 in
anticipated monthly expenses for about the first two years of operations
.
Parish Finance Director Geremie Loupe said council members should get a
legal opinion on whether the parish would be liable for the operation's
debts if it gives it operating money.

In the meantime, the doctors have formed the St. Bernard Medical Relief
Fund, a nonprofit entity to gather donations. Contributors can mail
donations to the St. Bernard Kiwanis Foundation, c/o St. Bernard Medical
Relief Fund. Checks should be mailed to the attention of Robert Showalter,
100 Intermodal Drive, Chalmette, LA 70042.

For more information, call Ruth Bertucci at (504) 450-1059.