[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish hospital commission inks deal with planning company

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish hospital commission inks deal with planning company
by The Times-Picayune 
Friday June 06, 2008, 9:53 AM
A company has been hired to manage the planning, design and construction of
a proposed new hospital in Chalmette, the St. Bernard Parish Hospital
Services District said Friday.


Hammes Company, a Brookfield, Wisc.-based firm, will assist the district in
developing a facility of at least 40 beds located on a 20-acre site along
St. Bernard Highway.

Officials hope to have the new hospital, to be called St. Bernard Parish
Hospital, built by late 2010, a news release said.

St. Bernard Parish's lone hospital before Hurricane Katrina, Chalmette
Medical Center, was heavily damaged by flooding and was demolished. Since
then, the parish's healthcare needs have been served by a clinic set up in
the parking lot of the vacant Super Wal-Mart on West Judge Perez Drive in
Chalmette.

Two companies, the Franciscan Mission of Our Lady Health System, which
currently operates the clinic, and Ochsner Health System, have offered
proposals to manage the hospital once its opened. The Hospital Services
District Commission will vote on those competing proposals at a later date. 

Daniel Dysart, chairman of the commission, said Hammes will be paid 1.85
percent of the construction costs of the hospital. Those construction costs
have not been determined, he said.