Medical facilities post successful year

When it comes to health care in the Tri-parish region, two of the predominant centers between New Orleans and Houston can be found in Houma.

As a teaching hospital, Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center, which graduated its first-ever class of internal medicine residents during 2011, is among the most respected institutions in the LSU Health Care System.

Terrebonne General Medical Center provides full service care and incorporates health efforts with specialized sources including the Cardiovascular Institute of the South, the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, the Southeast Neuroscience Center and the Wound Care Clinic.

Together, these two facilities frequently work in partnership and offer a wide range of services. Officials from both medical centers provided a list highlights to describe their mission and point out areas of progress during the past year.

Chabert a Quality Capstone Award winner

Having opened its doors in 1978, Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center is the most recently added health center in the Tri-parish region. The hospital is fully accredited and licensed with 156 beds for inpatient services and offers outpatient care.

Chabert Medical Center is ranked among the top 10 employers of Terrebonne Parish with more than 1,000 individuals on payroll and is responsible for contributing an estimated $65 million to the local economy.

Residency programs at Chabert cover 15 primary health care areas. Medical, nursing and allied health programs offer placement for students from across the country.

According the Chabert CEO Rhonda Green, progress for 2011 has included a partnership with the American Cancer Society to establish an in-house resource center and community outreach program.

“[This] service is not limited to Chabert patients, but open to the community,” Green said of the center located on the hospital’s fourth floor that provides printed materials, counseling resources and educational opportunities.

Three awards are highlighted on Green’s list of accomplishments in 2011. Chabert was one of 13 hospitals in the nation to receive the national press Ganey Top Improver Award with the enhancement of clinical performance and patient care with demonstrated satisfaction during a two-year period.

A Quality Capstone Award was presented to Chabert from the Louisiana Health Care Review for accomplishments in providing outstanding disease management care to prevent hospitalization of patients.

The third award secured by Chabert was presented to five Chabert nurses who were included as part of the 2011 New Orleans District Nursing Association’s Great 100 Nurses award. “These honored nurses are recommended by their peers, physicians and patients,” Green said. “[Selection is] based on their concern for humanity, their contribution to the community and their focus on education and enhancing the quality of nursing in Louisiana.”

Progress at Chabert includes measured growth in its Palliative Care Program. “In 2011 [our] participation in the Circle of Life was recognized for the program’s quality with encouragement to expand services,” Green said. “The LSU Health Care Services Division has adopted Chabert Medical center’s approach to providing standardized care for patients and families regarding end of life issues.”

Added equipment for the medical center in 2011 included a bone density scanner, purchased through funds donated to the Chabert Foundation. The addition of this tool offers medical professionals enhanced disease management capabilities for screening and early detection.

According to Green, Chabert Medical Center now has 10,000 patients formally enrolled in its system through primary care physicians, and is in the process of securing additional enrollments.

Multiple specialty outpatient clinics are available with this year’s addition of a full time rheumatologist and a full time dermatologist. “Chabert Medical Center continues to provide outpatient services for over 220,000 patients a year through primary care and specialty clinics,” Green said.

Terrebonne General Medical Center sees opening of Mary Byrd Perkins center

With health care roots that date back more than 75 years, TGMC has consistently grown with Terrebonne Parish to become one of the predominant names for health care and treatment in the Tri-parish region. A central location that has attracted skilled professionals has afforded TGMC many firsts in the nation, including aspects of cardiovascular care and cancer treatment.

Designated to be a Hospital Service District in 1979, TGMC in 1985 sold off parish government bonds and relieved Terrebonne Parish of any previously held financial liability, to become a public non-profit hospital. By 1989 TGMC was recognized by the U.S. Senate for providing services previously unavailable in south Louisiana.

Progress during the past year was highlighted on Oct. 12, with the official opening of the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

“With the new center, we hope to provide not only the very best in cancer treatment, but to also demonstrate our commitment to creating a healthier community,” TGMC CEO Phyllis Peoples said in a printed statement. “With this facility comes a full service program with support for both the patient and family, education and screening initiatives at no cost to the underserved community as well as the latest in technology and expertise of the very best doctors in the region.”

The Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center services include screening, mammography, educational resources, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, clinical trials and patient navigation.

The Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is nationally accredited and billed by TGMC administrators as providing world-class care close to home.

“We continually strive to make improvements to our facility by providing our patients with the highest quality health care,” Peoples said. “Among some of our successes this past year, TGMC has reissued accreditation from the Joint Commission and out Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was granted Level 3 status by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.”

Heath Care Opportunities

As the region grows, so do opportunities for quality medical care. Green and Peoples are among those that insist progress for any community is rooted in the availability of comprehensive medical treatment and preventative health care programs.