[StBernard] 5 named to panel to explore options for new hospital

[Westley Annis]

5 named to panel to explore options for new hospital
St. Bernard's was bulldozed after storm Wednesday, December 05, 2007By Paul
Rioux
The St. Bernard Parish Council on Tuesday appointed five people to a new
commission overseeing efforts to build a hospital in Chalmette to replace
the one destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. 

The appointees to the St. Bernard Parish Hospital Service District
Commission are: Bryan Bertucci, a physician and the parish's coroner; Paul
Verrette, a physician at the parish clinic; Daniel Dysart, a lawyer; James
DiFatta, an accountant; and Ron Chapman, a history professor at Nunez
Community College in Chalmette. 

They are charged with removing one of the biggest roadblocks to St.
Bernard's recovery: the lack of 24-hour, acute medical care. 

 
The unpaid appointees were among eight people nominated by the St. Bernard
Medical Society and employees at the St. Bernard Health Center, a clinic in
a network of trailers in the parking lot of the gutted Wal-Mart Supercenter
in Chalmette. 

The Parish Council plans to ask the Legislature to expand the commission to
nine members during the next regular legislative session. "The more people
you bring in, the more ideas you have to work with," Parish Council Chairman
Joey DiFatta said. 

The parish's lone hospital before Katrina, the privately owned Chalmette
Medical Center, was heavily damaged during the hurricane and has been
bulldozed. The hospital commission is authorized under state law to own and
operate a hospital and enter into service agreements with private and public
health care providers. 

The commission is expected to consider proposals from Ochsner Health System
and the Franciscan Mission of Our Lady Health System, two nonprofit
organizations that have expressed interest in operating a hospital in St.
Bernard. 

The Franciscan Mission, which currently runs the Chalmette clinic, is
offering to help the parish build a $68 million, 60-bed hospital and a $10
million medical office building. The complex would be located across from
Chalmette Battlefield on 20 acres on St. Bernard Highway provided by the
Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable Foundation. The facility, which would
take 2 1/2 years to build, would be owned by the hospital service district.
It would be financed with a $17.5 million down payment earmarked by the
state and loans backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Ochsner's proposal is to build a 50-bed hospital that it would own and
manage. The hospital, which also would be located on the Meraux Foundation
property, would be built in four stages, but Ochsner did not provide a
timetable. 

At a public forum last month, many St. Bernard residents supported the
Franciscan Mission's proposal, saying a publicly owned hospital would give
them greater control over their medical care and enable profits to be
reinvested to expand and improve the facility. 

But Councilman Craig Taffaro, who was elected parish president last month
and will be sworn in Jan. 8, said he's concerned the parish could be on the
hook for more than $50 million if the public hospital went bankrupt. 

"I think there's a misperception that we're getting a hospital for free and
that's not true. It comes with a pretty hefty price tag," he said, adding
that the parish should continue exploring other options. 

Ochsner officials have emphasized that under their proposal, they would
assume the financial risks of opening a hospital in the storm-devastated
parish. 

Councilman Lynn Dean voted against the commission appointments, saying he
preferred a for-profit hospital run by a private company. DiFatta said that
could leave the parish in the same predicament after another disaster
because privately owned hospitals, like the Chalmette Medical Center, aren't
eligible for federal recovery aid. 

"We had a for-profit hospital before Katrina and look where that got us," he
said. "There's nothing left but a slab. They didn't walk away; they ran." 

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Paul Rioux can be reached at (504) 826-3321 or prioux at timespicayune.com.