Claudette Olivier / Church Point News
\Plans for a new Acadia St. Landry Hospital were announced at Church Point Community Development Corporations’ mid-year open meeting on June 10.
Cindy Walters, CEO of Acadia-St. Landry Hospital, said, “We are transforming health care for our community by building a new hospital. I want to say that again, because it is a very powerful statement — we are transforming health care for our community by building a new hospital.”
The announcement for the planned $30-$35 million facility was just one of the local updates presented during the meeting, which also included reports from Development Corporation President Mitch Andrus and Church Point Mayor Ryan “Spanky” Meche.
About 50 people attended the meeting.
Groundbreaking for the planned hospital is slated for 2020 with the opening slated for summer 2022. The proposed site for the hospital is located on La. 35, just south of the Church Point Wholesale facility. The planned hospital will be double the size of the current facility, an increase from 35,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet.
According to Walters, Acadia-St. Landry Hospital is one of 27 critical access hospitals in the state, and such facilities are located in rural parishes and designated as a necessary provider by the state.
Walters and Jeremiah Meck, program coordinator for Acadia-St. Landry Hospital, have visited other critical access hospitals in the state, including the new West Felicicana Hospital in St. Francisvillle and other critical access hospitals in the process of being built. Meck said some of the state’s critical access hospitals range from 40 to 70 years old.
“I’m sure things have changed from 70 years ago,” Meck said. “What has changed? Everything, including what? Health care, (and) technology — not just the standards of care, the models in which we deliver health care and the facilities in which we deliver that health care — have changed as well.”
The current hospital facility is 51 years old.
“We are very well maintained facility, however, we are outdated,” Walters said.
Meck said that the majority of the funding for the new facility will come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program, and the long term loan is for 40 years with a low interest rate. Meck also said that all of the other new and planned critical access facilities he and Walters had visited were funded by this program.
In addition to funding from the USDA, Walters said a community survey will be conducted to test taxpayer’s opinions on 10 mils for 15 years, and the current tax millage is 7.64.
“Our board of commissioners are going to evaluate the results of that survey, and they are going to decide our next course of action,” Walters said.
There are three phases to the project, and Walters said all of the plans in Phase 1 have been completed except the survey. Phase 2, slated for completion in 2019-2020, includes architectural design and plan, a financial feasibly study and filing for the USDA loan, and Phase 3, slated for completion in 2020-2022, includes securing the USDA funding, construction of the new building in 18 to 24 months and onboarding new physicians.
During the meeting, Andrus updated the audience on the CPCDC’s fundraising, projects and community involvement activities during the past year.
“As a nonprofit who receives your donations and your support over the course of each year, we feel a sense of accountability and responsibility to let you know where the money goes,” Andrus said.
Andrus highlighted the success of the organization’s biggest fundraiser, the annual Mardi Gras Ball, and the newest fundraiser, the Murder Mystery Dinner. After expenses, the ball raised $27,000, and after expenses, the dinner raised $6,000. The organization also marked its third year of presenting the Charles Labbe Community Service Award, and work is ongoing to establish a fund for the award.
Andrus said the organization’s Project Main Street program to improve storefront’s along Church Point’s Main Street has also been a win-win.
“The response from the community and business owners was overwhelming and awesome,” Andrus said. “We partnered with 17 different businesses to do 13 different projects.”
The organization has also partnered with Entergy to install LED streetlights down Main Street.
“This was going to be a $10,000 project with the board and the town, but it turned out to be more of a $2,000 or $3,000 project,” Andrus said.
Andrus said Entergy provided the lights at a discount because the project will be an example of one of the first main street in Louisiana to have LED lights from one end to the other, and with the saving from the lights, new street signs will be purchased and installed along Main Street.
The corporation has also made donations to help with improvements at MLK Park and City Park, Le Vieux Presbytère Museum and The Depot.
Andrus also announced the organization’s shrimp boil is scheduled for Sept. 28, and the third annual Mardi Gras ball is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2020.
Following Andrus’s presentation, Mayor Meche spoke to the audience about his first six months in office.
“It has not been a lot of sleep,” Meche said, laughing. “What it has been is a fun ride, and we are riding fast.”
Meche spoke about work in each district in the town and new equipment and vehicle purchases made by the town, including four new trucks, body cameras, GPS units and uniforms for the police department.
“We have a great relationship with the police department, (and we are) working together to make sure our budgets match up and do everything right,” Meche said. “It seems to be working just fine. In our first couple of months, every call (to the police department for service) was about a drug dealer living next door. Now all we get is ‘There’s chickens next door and the dogs (are loose)’ and this, that and the other, so that’s a sign in a good direction.”
Meche said that three grant applications — two for $300,000 and another for $427,000 — are also being filed to fund major work to the town’s aging sewer plant.
“I thank you for the opportunity to fight for Church Point because it’s worth it,” Meche said.
He continued, “I’m working as hard as I can for y’all, and hopefully every six months, I can give y’all a report this good.”