Les Hôpitaux - LSU Hospitals

L es H ôpitaux
MAY 2006
de la Louisiane
the official newsletter of the lsu health care services division
A monthly
column by
Don Smithburg,
Executive Vice
President & ceo of
lsu Health Care
Services Division
The opening of the MCLNO
Trauma Center at Elmwood
marks a major step forward
in the recovery of our hospital
system in the wake of
Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita.
As you know, Charity’s Trauma
Center was world renowned for
it’s care, Residents rebuilding
the Crescent City can expect
the same level of trauma
service at this temporary
location.
Just hours after the grand
opening ceremony, our
dedicated staff treated their
first patient, and they’ve been
busy ever since.
The fact is, our services as
medical professionals have
never been in more demand.
Over 300 patients a day are
being treated at the temporary
Emergency Clinic at 1450
Poydras Street and at the clinics
across from Charity.
Soon HCSD will open a series
of clinics in the New Orleans
area; this will make health care
accessible to even more of the
returning population.
And it’s not just in the Crescent
Continued on Pg 4
LSU Board of Supervisors Chairman Rod West participates in the grand opening of
Medical Center Louisiana New Orleans Trauma Unit at Elmwood on April 24, 2006.
Charity hospital’s trauma unit
opens new location
Charity Hospital’s historic trauma
center, which cared for the areas
most seriously injured patients prior to
Hurricane Katrina, officially re-opened
its doors at a temporary location in
Jefferson Parish on April 24.
Dignitaries from the New Orleans area
joined LSU officials and trauma staff for
the ribbon cutting. The trauma center
is housed in a renovated portion of
Ochsner’s Elmwood Medical Center
at 1221 S. Clearview Parkway, sevenand-a-half miles from Charity’s and
University’s downtown New Orleans
locations. Both shut down after
flooding from Katrina.
Specialized physicians and nurses will
be available at this temporary location,
around the clock to treat life-threatening
injuries. The Trauma Care Center will
provide the highest level of services in
the region.
“We’ll have all the components
necessary, all the same trauma
© LSU Health Sciences Center - Health Care Services Division
PAGE services that were represented at
Charity Hospital,” said Dr. Cathi
Fontenot, Medical Director, MCLNO.
“Fitting all of the necessary trauma
equipment into the building is a tight
squeeze” adds Fontenot, so three
mobile units atop tractor-trailer rigs
are stationed just outside of the
emergency room to house a CT
scanner, an MRI machine and a
neuroangiogram unit.
New Orleans residents needing
attention for lesser trauma can still be
treated at Charity’s temporary clinic
See Page 2
CEO’s Column
Elmwood Opening
UMc Transplant program
north baton Clinic costs
dr.deboisblanc at usnwr summit
pg.1
pg.1
pg.2
pg.3
pg.3
Elwood Column
Continued from Page 1
located at the former Lord and Taylor
department store located in the New
Orleans Centre at 1450 Poydras
Street.
Oschner’s Elwood Hospital will
house the Trauma Care Center until
renovations at University Hospital
are complete later this fall.
University Medical Center
Hospital Spotlight
This time last year, Dr. Daniel
Frey thought he was through
performing transplant surgeries.
That was when he transferred
from LSU’s Transplant Program
at Lindy Boggs Medical Center
to take a position as general
surgeon at University Medical
Center in Lafayette.
But several months later,
Hurricane Katrina forced Lindy
Boggs to close it’s doors.
Today, Dr. Frey is performing
transplant surgeries again, only
this time, in a new location
and under much different
circumstances.
Re-located Transplant Program
Flourishes at UMC
After a long process of acquiring
permits, hiring personnel, and
moving equipment from Lindy
Boggs, LSU temporarily reopened
the Transplant Program at HCSD’s
University Medical Center in
December 2005. Dr. Frey is the
Medical Director of that program.
In the interim, Dr. Frey and his staff
notified the patients by mail of the
relocation. He says at least half of
them returned to the new location
in Lafayette for treatment.
Dr. Frey and his initial staff of
ten—two have since returned to
New Orleans—have completed 11
kidney transplants, and more are
scheduled.
© LSU Health Sciences Center - Health Care Services Division
PAGE “My goal is 40-50 a year,”
said Dr. Frey, “the Transplant
Program at Lindy Boggs
performed 60 a year on
average, so we are falling
a little short of that right
now.”
Continued on Pg. 4
Dr. Ben DeBoisblanc Featured at
the U.S. News and World Report
Health Summit
(Washington D.C., April
18, 2006) On the 100th
Anniversary of 1906 San
Francisco Quake, and
nearly eight months after
hurricane Katrina roared
ashore in Louisiana, Dr. Ben
DeBoisblanc joined CEO’s
and other specialists from
hospitals nationwide, at the
U.S. News and World Report
Health Summit on Emergency
Preparedness.
Dr. DeBoisblanc, who is Medical
Director of the Medical Intensive
Care Unit at Charity Hospital,
was an honorary keynote
speaker at the event, which was
held at the National Press Club
in Washington D.C.
U.S. News and World Report
hosted the one-day Health
Summit in order to focus on
emergency preparedness as it
relates to health.
“We wanted to assemble a
presentation of people who
were on the front line of
emergency preparedness
this year,” said James Long,
Executive Producer. “Getting the
different perspectives together
was something truly unique.”
Dr. DeBoisblanc joined other
healthcare specialists in the
second panel of the Summit to
discuss “Lessons Learned from
Katrina, 9/11, SARS, and Other
Disasters.” U.S. News and World
Report selected Dr. DeBoisblanc
as a keynote speaker because
they wanted to feature an
“‘In the Trenches’” look at
emergency preparedness
techniques utilized during and
after Hurricane Katrina.
Dr. Ben DeBoisblanc joined experts from
nationwide hospitals at the U.S. News
and World Report Health Summit April 18,
2006.
“Katrina was, of course,
something that brought that
home to us,” said Mortimer
Zuckerman, U.S. News and World
Report Chairman and Editor-inChief. “But we are living in a time
where emergency preparedness is
going to become a critical part of
anybody leading this country.”
During his presentation, Dr.
DeBoisblanc focused on the
tactics he and his staff used to
not only care for the patients at
Charity during Katrina, but also
evacuate them from the roof of
the historical hospital.
“The most remarkable thing
of the experience was not the
medical stories, but the stories
of humanism – of unskilled,
very young, very frightened
doctors and nurses doing what
they’d always wanted to do,” Dr.
DeBoisblanc said, in his closing
remarks of the session.
© LSU Health Sciences Center - Health Care Services Division
PAGE Update: North
Baton Rouge
Clinic
Increasing construction costs in postKatrina Louisiana and other factors
have nearly doubled the cost of LSU’s
planned north Baton Rouge outpatient
medical clinic, causing the $6 million
project to now require $12.9 million to
build.
“It’s a big increase, but all things
considered in post-Katrina market, we
think it’s realistic,” Donald Smithburg,
LSU Health Care Services Division
CEO said.
The outpatient medical clinic will be
built at 5445 Airline Drive, a location
near Earl K. Long Medical Center, and
will open for business by 2008.
Though construction costs are a large
component in the increasing budget,
the large number of displaced New
Orleans residents now living in Baton
Rouge also created the possible need
for a bigger clinic.
The project is being financed with state
borrowing, mostly coming from the
$3.1 billion state construction program.
site of planned north baton rouge
outpatient medical clinic on airline hwy
Please know that your
dedication and hard work are
recognized and appreciated.
Our mission of providing
quality medical care is
unwavering, and so is our
commitment to our patients
and their loved ones.
Coming soon
Look for news on the launch of the
new HCSD website next month.
The redesign will provide users
with a more user-friendly site and
will allow for easier access to news
and information.
The new and improved website will
be launched on the domain
Transplant Program Continued from Page 2
The Transplant Program is
currently being housed in the
Family Practice Unit at UMC;
space in the main hospital has
been dedicated to recovering
patients. A mobile building
has been purchased and is
currently awaiting installation.
Dr. Frey said the Transplant
Program expects to move into
the building with in the next
ten days.
The Transplant Program is
currently certified to perform both
pancreas and kidney transplants.
Dr. Frey said he would like to hire
another surgeon this summer,
before taking on additional
transplants.
“If the state is willing to fund it,
we plan on being around here for a
while.” Dr. Frey said.
colophon
Les Hopitaux is a monthly newsletter of LSU’s Health
Care Services Division which operates eight of the state
of Louisiana’s public hospitals:
Earl K. Long Medical Center
Baton Rouge, LA
Huey P. Long Medicla Center
Pineville, LA
“The hospital has done a
phenomenal job of getting it
up and running in such a short
period of time,” said Dr. Frey.
University Medical Center
Lafayette, LA
W.O. Moss Regional Medical Center
Lake Charles, LA
Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center
Independence, LA
Though some of the patients
being treated are from Baton
Rouge, Alexandria, and New
Orleans, the majority are from
Acadiana. “At least half our
patients at Lindy Boggs came
from Lafayette, so it made it
very easy to transition here,”
said Dr. Frey. “We are also
getting tremendous response
from the private communities
here, which enables us to
generate additional funds
needed for the future.”
© LSU Health Sciences Center - Health Care Services Division
de la Louisiane
lsuhospitals.org.
May 2006
City; LSU hospitals and clinics
all over the state have seen
their patient loads increase
significantly since the storms.
L es H ôpitaux
Cont. from CEO column
Bogalusa Medical Center
Bogalusa, LA
L.J. Chabert Medical Center
Houma, LA
Medical Center of Louisiana
New Orleans, LA
The Health Care Services
Division is headquartered at:
8550 United Plaza Blvd, Ste. 400
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
ph. 225.922.0488
fax. 225.922.2259
Vice Chancellor & CEO:
Donald Smithburg
Editor.........................Marvin McGraw
Staff/Design...............Jana Ritter
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