[StBernard] Hospital nearly 3 years away

[Westley Annis]

>A site for the 40-bed hospital has not yet been determined


40 beds.  Does that mean they are going with Ochsner?  

How was the 40 bed number determined?  Does anyone know?

Congratulations parish and parish leaders:  You have pushed back further any
chances of the parish having any further meaningful growth.  



>USDA is using census information from 2000, which lists Chalmette's

population as

>35,000


Why is USDA using pop numbers for *only* Chalmette?  

#8425



	
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	Hospital nearly 3 years away
	St. Bernard facility needs land, money Wednesday, August 06, 2008By
Mary
	Elise DeCoursey
	Residents will have to
	 wait almost three more years for a hospital in St.
	Bernard Parish, officials said Tuesday. 
	
	The parish had hoped construction on the hospital would begin later
this
	year, but a developer told the Parish Council that the project won't
begin
	until June. 
	
	After months of meeting separately, the Parish Council and the
Hospital
	Service District Commission held a joint meeting Tuesday morning to
"get
	everyone on the same page." 
	
	Phillip Wendling, a developer with Hammes Co., said the hospital
would be
	treating its first patients in May 2011. Construction is expected to
begin
	in June and take 22 months, he said. 
	
	A site for the 40-bed hospital has not yet been determined, though
the
	front-runner is a tract of land across from Chalmette Battlefield
owned by
	the Meraux Foundation. Once land is secured, a six-month
environmental study
	must be completed. 
	
	"I'm just afraid they'll find a buried
	 British soldier on the
	site, and
	everything will be delayed again," commission member Ron Chapman
said. 
	
	Lining up state and federal funding has caused the delays,
commission
	members said. As proposed, the hospital will cost $61 million to
build.
	Funding stands at $42 million, with $17 million expected from state
capital
	outlay funds and $25 million earmarked in federal Community
Development
	Block Grants. 
	
	The $19 million shortfall could be covered by a loan from the USDA,
for
	which the commission, not the parish, would be liable. Earlier this
year,
	the council mandated the hospital be built debt-free. 
	
	Commission members said they have been working under the assurances
that the
	parish would be eligible for USDA funding. But members said Tuesday
the
	agency's lawyers informed them last month that they would not be
eligible
	because Chalmette's population is "too large." Chapman said the
	USDA
	 is
	using census information from 2000, which lists Chalmette's
population as
	35,000. The commission is working with members of Congress to
convince the
	USDA to look at post-Katrina population figures, which are much
lower, he
	said. 
	
	"It's not a race; it's a steeple chase," Chapman said.
	"People keep putting
	more obstacles in front of us and slowing it down." 
	
	The parish's lone hospital before Katrina -- the privately owned
Chalmette
	Medical Center -- flooded during the hurricane and has been
bulldozed. 
	
	Councilmen Ray Lauga and Mike Ginart urged the commission to
consider
	building a stand-alone emergency room until the rest of the hospital
could
	be completed. 
	
	"I think it grows more and more important that we have an emergency
room
	in
	St. Bernard Parish," Ginart said. "I don't see us going to May
	2011 without
	that." 
	
	Commission member Bryan Bertucci said that having an ER isn't as
	 simple as
	constructing a building. 
	
	"You have to get doctors before you open up a hospital," he said.
	"You
	really can't provide all the services without specialist (doctor)
	backup." 
	
	. . . . . . .