Lourdes Announces Plans for A 21st Century Hospital on Louisiana Medical News

Lourdes Announces Plans for A 21st Century Hospital

By: BARBARA MCCONNELL

"Healthcare to the Highest Power"

It was an auspicious date, January 21, 2009, for the administration and board of Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center to announce plans to build their 21st century, state-of-the-art medical complex. It was also the feast of St. Agnes, after whom their mammography center is named, and the name of hospital visionary Sister Mary Agnes Fitzsimons, one of the Franciscan sisters who was so instrumental in their development.

William "Bud" Barrow, CEO, spoke to a crowd of invited dignitaries and guests in the auditorium of the technologically advanced LITE Center in Lafayette. A computer-generated virtual 2-D and 3-D video gave the audience a look at the future of a facility that is now only three months of rough dirt work on a 45-acre construction site off Ambassador Caffery near Kaliste Saloom Road in south Lafayette.

The Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady, a religious order of the Catholic Church, was founded in 1854 in France. A contingent came to America in 1911 to establish in Monroe what would eventually be St. Francis Medical Center, followed in 1923 by Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center in Baton Rouge, and in 1949, Our Lady of Lourdes RMC in Lafayette.

The $211 million project will proceed in phases, with the estimated date of completion for the first phase to be July 2011 for the initial six-story, 164-bed, 396,000-square-foot acute-care facility with 28 shelled-in rooms ready to be equipped.

A third patient tower is planned, which would add an additional 168 beds. "We tried to plan the hospital campus to anticipate the growth of the Acadiana area over the next two to three decades," said Barrow.

A 180,000-square-foot medical office building (MOB) is also slated for construction this year. With the administration offices housed there, 98 percent of the space in the medical towers will be devoted to patient care. Additional MOBs are being considered.

"The last 18 months have been spent working closely with design consultants and visiting newer hospitals in Denver, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago to study 'best practices,' with hundreds if not thousands of physician input hours from all specialties. We feel we have a far better design because of it. We view our physicians as our partners in care and our mantra at Lourdes is, 'Physicians are our #1 customer and patient care is our #1 job,'" shared Barrow.

With a 60-year-old physical plant, Lourdes had outgrown the 263-bed facility located midtown, leaving a choice of either renovating, or building a new hospital. The decision to start fresh was based on the difficulties of bringing a physical plant that old up to 21st century medical standards.

And what will happen to the old campus? "We are going to be in discussions for the next 12-18 months on what to do with it. We have had interest from several parties, and perhaps ULL might be a possibility. For now, the MOB will stay, along with St. Mary's Imaging, St. Agnes Breast Center and Lourdes Fitness Center," said Barrow.

The Heart Hospital of Lafayette, an affiliate of the Our Lady of Lourdes regional healthcare network, already has a future 'footprint' allotted on the site. "There's lots of room on the new campus for building what is needed at the time it will be needed," he stated.

Barrow avowed that no community outreach efforts would be affected by the move. "We are not abandoning those most in need. For example, we made sure that bus lines reached to the Ambassador Caffery campus. And this will not affect our care at St. Bernadette's, Scott Family Clinic and our other clinics for those who need us. In fact, it is the sustaining and magnifying of our healing mission that has led us to the point of creating the new hospital."

NEW FACILITY OVERVIEW

There will be an abundance of light, greenspace and trees with shining retention ponds scattered around the outside of the parking lots. Built environmentally sound to reduce energy costs, it will be visually constructed based on the only extant prayer written by St. Francis of Assisi, The Canticle of the Sun. Barrow said, "We believe that healing begins the moment you drive up and see the hospital."

THE CHAPEL
What normally is an afterthought in many medical facilities, the chapel, decorated with tall stained-glass windows, will be at the core of the hospital, both physically and spiritually. "It represents the healing ministry of Christ, which is central to all that we do here at Our Lady of Lourdes," stated Barrow.

A UNIQUE PROCEDURAL PLATFORM
Emergency vehicles will arrive at a second floor, integrated 19-room ER, eight operating rooms and the radiology/imaging departments, with 13 special procedure rooms that will flex for surgery or ER, depending on volume or need. A 24-room ICU is located immediately above on the third floor – all in proximity to each other to improve teamwork, cohesiveness, communication and speed of access.

PATIENT ROOMS
The all-private patient rooms will be 30 percent larger than in the present hospital for more working space around the bed, as well as increased comfort for visitors and family.

"We designed the rooms so that every bed was in the same place, as well as all the equipment, so that the caregiver does not waste time second guessing location. It is more expensive to build this way, but we felt it was better for the patient," explained Barrow.

A few steps from the bed, via handrail to reduce falls, each bathroom will be equipped with a walk-in shower for safety and ease of use.

Large windows will overlook the landscaped exterior, filling rooms with natural light, a psychological plus. And for further patient comfort, a large flat screen TV will facilitate wireless interactions between patient and staff. Meals will be ordered and delivered from dietary when the patient wants them, hotel style!

For better infection control, there will be an extra sink near the door for caregivers/doctors to wash their hands; surfaces will be of solid, non-porous materials.

"And we (will) have the ability to turn any patient room into an ICU bed, as needed. Telemetry is going to be housed in a central location, but any bed will be able to be monitored from anywhere in the hospital," Barrow added.

NURSING UNITS
Smaller, 14 bed per station units will be located closer to patient rooms for more effective, efficient care. A pneumatic tube system will facilitate delivery of supplies, saving time and keeping care at the bedside. The hospital will be completely wireless, as will communication between nursing staff and patients.

Joey Durel, Lafayette Parish president, stated this construction would have "a billion dollar impact on the community," represented many construction jobs and was being touted as the biggest construction project in the city's history.

Barrow added that such an advanced facility should draw more physicians than the present 287 active staff, and that the current number of 1400 employees will probably not change, but there would be changes in the nature of the jobs because of the streamlined operation.

Speakers and dignitaries included state Sen. Mike Michot; Alan Levine, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals; Hank Perret, Lourdes' chairman of the board; Dr. Kemp Coreil, medical chief of staff; Betty Lyons and Eileen Rowe, Franciscan Missionary sisters; and Tony Gordon, vice president of strategy, FMOL.

Project partners/ architects, builders and designers are: Brasfield & Gorrie, The Estopinal Group, Kaufman Hall, Navigant Consulting, HOK and The Lemoine Company.