UPDATE: District may seek tax to keep OB service at Ochsner St. Mary

Hospital Service District No. 2 officials appear ready to ask voters in the eastern parish for a property tax that would keep labor and delivery services at Morgan City's Ochsner St. Mary.

At a Wednesday meeting, the district's board said it would provide details about the proposal, including the size of the tax, at its next regular meeting, scheduled for May 3. That meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the Morgan City Court.

The board's timeline calls for a tax proposition on the Oct. 14 ballot.

The tax could affect property owners throughout the district, which stretches from the Wax Lake Outlet to Amelia.

Ochsner, which operates the Morgan City hospital under lease with the district, announced in March that it would eliminate its obstetrics unit at Ochsner St. Mary as of April 1.

The health care company said an aging population in the region and a diminishing number of women of child-bearing age made it decide to reallocate resources.

Ochsner is consolidating labor and delivery services in its Bayou Region at Ochsner St. Anne in Raceland.

Nearly everyone involved agrees that labor and delivery services lose money. In its announcement about the end of labor and delivery services, Ochsner St. Mary said it delivers only about 200 babies a year, the fewest number among facilities reporting to the Louisiana Hospital Association.

Public reaction was swift.

State Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, objected at a March 15 meeting to the short notice about the elimination of labor and delivery services, which he said could result in increased demand at Franklin Foundation Hospital.

Also March 15, two women in the care of out-of-town obstetricians told stories in which having Ochsner St. Mary close by was a literal lifesaver when they developed complications in labor.

Board member Angelena Brocato saw potential impacts that go beyond health care.

“How many women of child-bearing age are going to return to this area when there is not a place to safely go to deliver that baby, to have that family that we want so desperately in small-town America?” Brocato said.

On Wednesday, Ochsner Bayou Region CEO Fernis LeBlanc, a former Ochsner St. Mary CEO, said the company is willing to work with the district on a solution.

“We listened, and we heard you,” LeBlanc said.

Ochsner hopes it can cooperate with the district to develop an outline of standards required to resume labor and delivery services, but the standards for quality and safety must be high, LeBlanc said.

“We will work with the hospital service district and, with community support, we can evaluate how we can bring back labor and delivery safely and effectively,” LeBlanc said.

Ochsner St. Mary will continue to treat patients of all ages in its emergency room and will continue to admit pediatric patients, he said.

Board Chairman Dr. William Cefalu applauded Ochsner willingness to work the district.

“Our goal as a board is to maintain primary care services …,” Cefalu said. “We need to do our due diligence to see what this would require.”

The board took two steps in that direction Wednesday. It authorized members Brocato, Jackie Cheramie and Kendra Thomas, along with Cefalu, to be spokespersons for the board on the tax issue.

The board also authorized an agreement with the Communication Institute, a Baton Rouge consulting company with experience in crafting the message for hospital districts seeking tax approval. The company’s website says it has helped bring $180 million to hospitals in tax elections.

If a tax proposition reaches the Oct. 14 ballot, Morgan City voters will be looking at their second proposed tax in less than six months.

A half-cent sales tax in Morgan City for police and firefighter pay and training is on the April 29 ballot.

The turnout for the October election is likely to be much higher than for the April proposition, and not just because voters from outside Morgan City will take part.

Oct. 14 is also the primary election date for statewide offices, including governor, as well as for state legislative seats and St. Mary’s parish president and council members.