It's budget time for hospital district; providers look at demand for child mental health services

The property tax passed in December by residents of Hospital Service District No. 2 has moved the district into a new world of budgeting.
The district’s board also heard at Wednesday’s monthly meeting about a possible move toward expanded pediatric mental health service in the area.
The district’s board heard Wednesday from Tim Matte of the Pitts and Matte CPA firm. A review of district finances contained no red flags.
The net asset position of the district, which owns the hospital operated under lease as Ochsner St. Mary, is about $2.2 million.
Estimates say the board will receive more than that each year from the 9-mill tax voters approved by a 70%-30% margin. The ballot language said the tax would generate about $3.4 million a year.
The tax proceeds are dedicated “including but not limited to repairing existing facilities, acquiring equipment, and otherwise supporting the provision of hospital services. …”
The board members spoke of sealing the exterior of the building and installing upgrades in the heating and air-conditioning system after the damage inflicted by Hurricane Francine on Sept. 11. That work is already underway.
Ochsner Health volunteered to begin the improvements while the district awaits its first proceeds from the 9-mill tax. Tax bills go out to property owners later this year.
The tax revenues mean the board will be required to undergo the same budget process that other local governments have instituted.
Also Wednesday, district counsel William “Bill” Bourgeois said an effort is underway with pediatricians and Ochsner to explore the demand for mental health services for children.
Over the last few years, especially since the COVID pandemic, pediatric mental health has become an issue of growing importance.
Yet, according to the Louisiana Department of Health, resources can be hard for parents to find.
“In Louisiana, there is an increasing need for mental health services for children, but a shortage of providers, especially in rural areas,” according to the department’s web site.
Much of the work falls to providers of primary care for children “even when it falls outside of their typical scope of work.”
That includes the Morgan City area.
“Some people have reportedly left the community because those services aren’t offered here,” Bourgeois told the district’s board.
The Health Department has a phone number, 833-721-2881, that health care providers can use to reach mental health professionals for advice.
Ochsner’s own web site promotes its program of pediatric psychological and psychiatric services.
The site says mental health issues can manifest themselves in children as frequent headaches or stomach aches with no obvious cause, frequent tantrums or mood swings, an inability to sit quietly and lack of interest in playing with other children.
Among adolescents, the possible symptoms are damaging behavior, self-harm such as cutting or burning, drug or alcohol use, and suicidal thoughts.