Parish Council OKs call for hospital tax election

The St. Mary Parish Council on Wednesday gave its approval to calls for elections by both parish hospital districts, including a new 5-mill tax that Hospital Service District No. 2 hopes will bring labor and delivery services back to Ochsner St. Mary.

The council also approved a call for a millage renewal for Hospital Service District No. 1, which covers the western parish and operates Bayou Bend Health System in Franklin. All the hospital elections would be Oct. 14 if the State Bond Commission approves.
Ochsner Health operates the Morgan City hospital under lease with Hospital Service District No. 2, which includes the parish east of the Calumet Cut.

On April 1, the system announced that it would end non-emergency obstetrical service at Ochsner St. Mary, citing an aging population and what it characterized as a small number of births.

The system said the volume of deliveries makes it impossible to staff the obstetrics unit at a level adequate to maintain safe and quality care.
Ochsner is consolidating its regional labor and delivery services at Ochsner St. Anne, raising concerns about the long drive for women in labor to Raceland or hospitals in Franklin, Houma or Thibodaux.

The hospital district’s solution is the new property tax, which is expected to raise about $2 million a year for 10 years. The money would be used to “improve, maintain, and operate hospital and other health care facilities in the District, to include providing and supporting labor and delivery and pediatric services, physician recruitment, and community outreach.”

The district also hopes to ask voters to rededicate existing money from a tax no longer being collected. That amounts to $719,000, currently restricted to facilities and equipment, that would be redirected toward reopening labor and delivery services.

Dr. William Cefalu, who practices at the hospital and chairs the district board, said the district’s partnership with Ochsner has been positive, especially during recent hurricanes and the COVID pandemic.

The end of labor and delivery services is “the first thing we’ve had, and it’s been a big blow.”

The hospital needs three obstetricians, but when services were terminated there was only one, Dr. Julie Price. And that meant fewer deliveries at the hospital, Cefalu said.

Council members questioned the wording of the new-tax proposition with its language about maintaining and improving hospital facilities. Cefalu said he wants to be clear that the goal is to recruit physicians and other staffers to reopen labor and delivery services.

The district’s legal counsel, William Bourgeois, said the district’s bond counsel insists the language about operation and maintenance must be in the proposition to meet legal requirements.

The system is hoping for 30 deliveries per month, Cefalu said. When Ochsner announced the end of labor and delivery services, it said the Morgan City hospital delivered about 200 babies per year, or about 17 per month.

Ochsner CEO Peter November and regional CEO Fernis LeBlanc have made verbal commitments to work with the district to bring back labor and delivery, Cefalu said. In the meantime, Ochsner is offering training to make sure emergency room personnel and other staffers can deal with emergency births in Morgan City.

If the tax propositions pass, Cefalu said, the district may be able to bring labor and delivery services back at some level while physician recruitment begins.

The new tax would cost the average homeowner $14-$40 per year, according to the district. “It’s going to cost more to fill up your gas,” Cefalu said.

He and board member Angelena Brocato said attracting young families to St. Mary Parish will depend in part on the availability of primary care, including obstetrics.

“This is the skin in the game for the hospital and the community,” Brocato said.

Hospital Service District No. 1 in Franklin is asking for renewal of a 3.1-mill tax that raises about $647,000 annually.