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From Institution to Destination
OLOL Eyes Expansion
by Karen Stassi
PUBLISHED: July/August 2011
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After almost 90 years in
operation, Our Lady of
the Lake Regional
Medical Center can
confidently claim its
position as one of
Baton Rouge’s premier healthcare
institutions. Now the health system
is looking to become a healthcare
destination. The public/private partnership
with LSU announced in
2009 was just the beginning. Now
the campus is expanding to not only
accommodate the expanded role of
graduate medical education at
OLOL, but also to allow the health
system to achieve a long sought
after goal—to become the area’s
first Level 1 trauma center.
According to OLOL’s recently revealed master facility
plan, a state-of-the-art, 35,000 square foot medical education
building will be built as part of the new partnership
with LSU. The building will include simulation labs and
space for individual research. Construction is anticipated
to begin in 2012.
In addition, OLOL has already broken ground on a
330,000 square foot, nine-story Heart and Vascular Tower
featuring new ICU units, new catheterization and electrophysiology
labs, and state-of-the-art pre-op rooms. The
building will feature innovative design for both work areas
and patient rooms to improve safety, security, and patient
comfort. Using universal design, the new patient rooms
can adapt to different levels of care as the patient’s status
changes, eliminating the need to move patients around.
Patient rooms, as well as the ICU and pre-op rooms, are
designed for easier access to the patient, but also offer
more space for family interaction. Completion of the Heart
and Vascular Tower is anticipated for Fall 2013.
The hospital has also begun work on the changes necessary
to transform the hospital into Baton Rouge’s only Level 1 trauma
center. These include a dramatically larger emergency
room (about the size of two football fields) and a helipad capable
of hosting two Black Hawk helicopters—a need identified
after Hurricane Katrina. The ER will also offer separate treatment
areas for adults, children, and trauma patients. Currently
only New Orleans and Shreveport can boast Level 1 trauma
centers, yet Baton Rouge’s size and location seem to warrant
its own. Completion of the ER expansion and Trauma Center
is also planned for Fall 2013.
OLOL CEO Scott Wester indicated that it is through the collaboration
with LSU that many of these changes will finally
become a reality. That collaboration has expanded the number
of patients OLOL must accommodate and will significantly
increase the hospital’s role in medical education and
research, necessitating growth of the hospital’s footprint. A
freestanding children’s hospital remains on the wish list, but in
the meantime, changes will also be made in the pediatrics
area, said Wester.
In addition to providing greater access to trauma care,
improved heart and vascular care, and enhanced medical
education, the planned expansion will also have a significant
economic impact according to an analysis completed for
OLOL by Tripp Umbach. The company anticipates an additional
$200 million direct impact and $260 million indirect
impact as a result of OLOL’s planned expansion. An estimated
2,065 additional jobs are expected to be generated during
the construction period. Tripp Umbach puts OLOL’s current
economic impact around $928 million.
Sources:
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