Ochsner transforming Lafayette General Medical Center; here's what's new

An 18-month, $100-million construction project at the Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center is nearing completion, CEO Al Patin said, with much of the construction on track to wrap up by the end of the year.

Ochsner has been in the midst of a significant renovation to add a new six-floor tower and parking tower and expand its mother-baby suite since the Ochsner Health System officially took over the Lafayette General Health System in October 2020. As part of the merger, Ochsner said it would invest $465 million across the system, including nearly $100 million in the medical center.

As part of the expansion, the Ochsner Cancer Center of Acadiana doubled its number of infusion seats from 36 to 72, and a new parking garage is being built with 534 new spaces.

Patin, who took over as the Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center CEO in 2021, said the company has lived up to its commitment so far.

“We could only be doing what we’re doing today as quickly as we did it with the partnership with Ochsner,” Patin said. “Ochsner is doing exactly what they said they would do. They are bringing resources to us, rather than taking them away.”

Recognizing a need for more beds

Even before the COVID pandemic began putting a strain on hospital systems across the U.S., it was clear that the medical center needed to expand its capacity, Patin said.

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Without the ongoing expansion, the medical center has around 436 licensed beds. Once the first phase of the expansion is complete, the center will have around 530 beds with room to expand even more. In the long term, the medical center would have the ability to grow to more than 600 licensed beds.

“What we recognized over time is there is a significant demand for our community needing access to acute care,” Patin said. “We weren’t able to meet that demand.”

Altogether, the construction is adding more than 150,000 square feet to the medical center. The expansion is changing the layout of the hospital in several ways. The main lobby will see a significant expansion, adding a large area for things like a coffee kiosk and a new elevator bank.

The center’s outpatient surgical suite was moved to a new building in the middle of the complex, and the expanded mother-baby suites will move into the space formerly occupied by the surgical area. A six-floor tower — called South Tower — is being added to the building.

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Three of the new patient floors will be used right away, and the remaining three will be shells for future expansion. Patin said the tower maxes out the amount of beds that can be added on that part of the campus, but the system is keeping an eye out for real estate opportunities in the immediate area.

In the last month, the medical center purchased a small building adjacent to the medical center. Patin said the medical center has no immediate plans for the building and is allowing the current tenants to remain in the space until the system has a need for it.

With the medical center’s location, the system’s leaders had to be creative when it came to planning the new construction, said Marie Lukaszeski, the director of planning, design and property for Ochsner Lafayette General.

“There was nothing customary about it,” she said.

Lukaszeski said that, when the medical center built the outpatient surgical suite in 2012, it was done with the expectation that a tower would be added to grow the medical center’s capacity. But she also said she didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

“I thought I’d be dead when the tower was built,” Lukaszeski said.

A real need for NICU space

One of the focal points of the renovation is the expansion of the mother-baby suites, which will allow the medical center’s obstetricians to expand their practices. Before the expansion, the medical center already delivered more babies than any other hospital in the region, but it had maxed out its capacity, Patin said.

With more space, the medical center will have the ability to do 5,400 deliveries each year, Patin said.

The medical center will also have more beds for its obstetrics emergency department, as well as more beds for antenatal care. The neonatal intensive care unit will also have significantly more space, meeting a growing need in the region.

“The more deliveries you do, obviously the more you need on the NICU side as well,” Patin said.

Patin said he’s anticipating the new NICU area to begin operating in February or March. Construction will likely be substantially completed by the end of the year, but it will likely take some more time to clear some other hurdles.

What’s next?

While the construction is expected to be substantially done in the next few months, it may take a little longer for some areas to become fully operational.

Patin said the medical center is also facing some hiring challenges, falling in line with many employers across the nation. He said each floor likely adds the need for an additional 20 or 30 employees.

He said the center has taken a phased approach to hiring and is working with local colleges to increase the number of graduates looking to enter the medical field. Some areas, like the NICU, might be easier to fully staff, he said, and the center is looking to grow the number of medical residents that come through the hospital.

“Staffing has been a challenge,” Patin said. “But we have good plans in place for workforce development, adding people so we can start occupying some of that new space.”

Despite the ongoing construction and the worker shortage, Patin said the medical center has continued to offer a high standard of care. The Ochsner Lafayette Medical Center was one of six hospitals in Louisiana to have a five-star rating from The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“We provide great care…even with construction,” Patin said. “Regardless of what’s going on, we’re still going to deliver the same care.”

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This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: See how Ochsner transforming Lafayette General with $100 million upgrade