Franciscan Health Facilities Fare Well During Ida

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System facilities, for the most part, appeared to have fared well during Hurricane Ida.

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Louisiana’s largest hospital, and Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, both in Baton Rouge, remained fully operational throughout the storm.

But the news was not so good in Gonzales at Our Lady of the Lake Ascension’s outpatient surgery center, which suffered roof and water damage. The medical office building also sustained damage.

Vice-President of Mission for Our Lady of the Lake Baton Rouge Colletta Barrett said the medical office and surgery center are closed, with physicians relocated in Ascension Civil Parish or the hospital itself to see patients.

Outpatient surgeries are being scheduled at Our Lady of the Lake Ascension’s main hospital. 

Barrett said crews are currently in the process of doing deep mitigation at the damaged facilities.

“We maintain operations as best we can but we are relocating out of those buildings,” she said. 

Our Lady of the Lake Assumption Hospital in Napoleonville was operating on generator power and the adjacent medical office building sustained damage. But the hospital and its emergency room were open and evacuations were not being considered, according to Dr. Richard Vath, chief executive officer of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System. 

“We are counting our blessings today that our teams are safe and all of our facilities weathered the storm without catastrophic damage,” Vath said. “We stand ready to support our healthcare colleagues in southeast Louisiana at the same time we continue providing care in our own communities. Everyone pulls together in these circumstances, and we are working closely with the state of Louisiana and prepared to receive evacuated patients if necessary.” 
Barrett said OLOL Baton Rouge did receive patients from the Houma Thibodaux area, specifically from Terrebonne General Hospital. Initially, several of those patients were transferred to OLOL Assumption, which is the first functioning hospital coming out of the Houma-Thibodaux area.

“As a sole provider in the area that is what they are called to do,” Barrett said, adding that the hospital is a small facility with five emergency rooms.

She said many of those transferred to Our Lady of the Lake Baton Rouge were critically ill, “not the kind of patients Assumption takes care of, But they are really stepping forward.”

OLOL Baton Rouge had received up to 13 patients from Terrebonne General as of Sept. 1, seven of whom were COVID-19 patients. On an encouraging note, as of Sept. 1, OLOL had 152 COVID-19 patients, a significant drop from when the hospital recently had more than 200 for several days. 

Barrett said following the storm OLOL Baton Rouge treated  individuals injured while working with chain saws, working on their roofs or mitigating damage in their homes or property. 

“Immediate post-storm we saw a dozen or so carbon monoxide poisoning cases because of improperly ventilated generators that are being used,” she said. “There are significant things that happen post-storm. We talk about them, we prepare for them, and we encourage people to be really safe and to follow guidelines and rules.

“People do the best they can and we still have these types of situations.”

Vath and Barrett agreed one of the biggest post-storm issues was communications, especially when attempting to reach physicians, team members and others outside of the health system’s facilities, because of AT&T’s major disruption of service.

Vath reported that minor damage was sustained at Our Lady of the Angels Hospital in Bogalusa. He said Our Lady of Lourdes in Lafayette is coordinating with the state to possibly receive evacuated pediatric patients to its Women’s and Children’s campus.