[StBernard] St. Bernard hospital board to sign building contract Monday

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard hospital board to sign building contract Monday
Reported by: Shelley Brown, Weekend Anchor 
Email: sbrown at fox8tv.net 
Contributor: Jon Turnipseed, Photographer 
Last Update: 12:04 am

The St. Bernard HSD will sign a contract with the builder of the new
hospital on Monday

Residents in St. Bernard Parish are getting some healthy news.  On Monday,
the Hospital Service District plans to sign the contract with the builder
for the new hospital.

Parish Councilman and HSD chair Wayne Landry said he expects to sign the
contract with Citadel Builders around 11:30 a.m.  He said the contractor
will have 15 months to complete the 40-bed hospital along Judge Perez Drive
in Chalmette. 

On Sunday Landry told FOX 8, "It is a victory for the people of St. Bernard.
Yes we spear headed the war.  We've won a bunch of battles throughout, and
then tomorrow we're going to win the war by signing that agreement."

Residents who've lived without a hospital since Katrina say it's long
overdue.  "It's been terrible us having to drive back and forth.  We go all
the way to Jefferson Parish you know for our doctors and all," said Maudine
Duhon of Meraux. 

Internal medicine physician and an HSD advisor, Dr. Paul Verrette, said
since the storm, temporary buildings represent almost all medical care in
the parish.  "People who come in with real acute problems.. we all know that
early intervention as quickly as we can do it affects outcome, and so it's
not good to have to transport heart attack patients," said Verrette.

The St. Bernard Parish Council is also scheduled to hold a special meeting
Monday at 2 p.m. to discuss financing the construction of the project.
"Tomorrow's meeting is a backup plan that the hospital board wants to
implement in the event that the HUD folks don't allow the CDBG money to be
dumped all at one time into the pot of money so that we can leverage it with
new market tax credits to generate an extra $10 to 11 million," said Landry.


If HUD doesn't give the hospital board approval to use all of the CDBG money
at once for construction of the project, the backup plan calls for HSD to
get permission from the parish council to use a local bank as a bridge
lender.

Parish Councilman and HSD Vice Chair, George Cavignac said, "we want to try
to close it before the end of the year versus next quarter because you tend
to get a better price, but actually we were just holding the special meeting
as a matter of timing to make sure it's done.. to close before the end of
the year should we have to."

Cavignac and Landry said that money would go toward the actual construction
of the project.  Landry explained the millage that voters passed November
2nd will provide operational cash for the project so that the parish can
start the hospital and keep it afloat until it's able to make money on its
own.

Hospital board members say residents will start to see movement on the site
of the future hospital within the next couple of weeks.  The new hospital is
expected to open in the first quarter of 2012.  Duhon said, "everybody's
going to be waiting for that.. more so the elders you know." 

In addition to the actual hospital, there are plans to build a 60,000 square
foot medical office building.  Verrette explained that addition is critical
and will give the parish an opportunity to recruit specialized physicians.
Construction for that complex is expected to start in the next four to six
months and open at the same time as the hospital.