[StBernard] Meraux Foundation donates extra land for planned hospital

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Tue Jun 2 21:30:28 EDT 2009


Meraux Foundation donates extra land for planned hospital

St. Bernard HSD Chair calls donation critical so design work can begin



The Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable Foundation has donated an extra 1½
acres of land for the first phase of the proposed St. Bernard Parish
hospital, a critical step that allows the planners to begin designing the
hospital, said Hospital Service District Chairman Danny Dysart.



After the Hospital Service District met May 27, it requested the additional
land from Meraux Foundation, and the Foundation Board of Directors approved
the request Tuesday after meeting with Dysart and representatives from The
Hammes Company and Sizeler Architects about the request.



“The Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable Foundation has expanded its
donation of land by an additional acre and a half so the Hospital Service
District can begin construction on Phase 1 of the hospital,” said Floyd Gue,
president of the Meraux Foundation Board of Directors. “We are working in a
cooperative effort to get a hospital here to meet the needs of the residents
of St. Bernard Parish, which is paramount. We applaud the diligence of the
HSD, Chairman Dysart and Parish President Craig Taffaro to move this
hospital project forward.”



Tuesday’s donation by the Meraux Foundation means the dimensions of the land
to be donated for Phase I now will be 730-feet wide by 690-feet deep or
about 11.56 acres. The total project calls for 20 acres on the Meraux
Foundation Airport Tract on the south side of West Judge Perez Drive in
Chalmette.



Dysart said the donation of land means the district is assured that it will
have the plans in hand within 4 months because the footprint for Phase 1 is
confirmed so design work can begin.



“I am very pleased that the Meraux Foundation gave us this extra acre and a
half,” Dysart said. “They have given us everything we have asked for in this
first phase. Their response was very timely. We met last Wednesday night,
gave them the request Thursday and they met today. Their timely response is
indicative of how cooperative a relationship the Meraux Foundation has with
the HSD.”



Councilman Wayne Landry, the council liaison to the Hospital Service
District, said he was glad the parish would be able to move forward on the
architects’ drawings.



“We are very happy to see the cooperation between the Meraux foundation and
the HSD to get us to the point where we can actually have the blueprints
begin,” Landry said.



Hammes Company, a Brookfield, Wisc.-based firm, is assisting the district in
developing a facility of at least 40 beds that will be called St. Bernard
Parish Hospital.





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