TRMC Continues to Change Local Medicine

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BY CASEY GISCLAIR

In 2016, Thibodaux Regional Medical Center changed local medical care forever with the opening of its Wellness Center — a state-of-the-art facility that’s positively impacted the lives of thousands of locals since opening its doors.

Now, TRMC is doing it again.


The proud local hospital announced plans for a new Cancer Center in May — a 100,000 square foot, $35 million addition to the hospital’s campus, which is scheduled to open in late 2020.

The new center will allow for better implementation of the latest technologies available for fighting cancer, according to TRMC CEO Greg Stock.

“Cancer impacts the lives of so many people,” Stock said. “There is no place like home when a person — and their family members — are coping with cancer. With a projected increase in cancer diagnoses, we are once again taking a proactive approach and making a statement about our strong commitment to provide the very best cancer care possible — right here close to home.”


Sketches of the cancer center are amazing. It will be a gorgeous facility equipped with the best equipment and technology available
on the market.

It’s a sign of immense growth from a hospital which has come from such modest beginnings.

TRMC started in 1930 as St. Joseph’s Hospital — a church-run office that was operated out of the Catholic Church by nuns.


“The original origin of the hospital was not much more than just a doctor’s office,” Stock said. “From there, it became sponsored by Catholic organizations and the sisters. They ran it for a number of years.”

St. Joseph’s Hospital grew as the community grew. It expanded to a 40-bed facility in 1953. The original facility was renovated and expanded several more times throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, as the area’s population grew.

But more was needed.


St. Joseph’s Hospital did its time, but it outgrew its property space. This led to the creation of  Thibodaux General Hospital, which opened in 1975 on 602 North Acadia Road — TRMC’s current location.

At the time of Thibodaux General’s opening, it was a 101-bed facility — the largest the city had seen at that time.

But the hospital was just getting started. Over the past several years, Thibodaux Regional Medical Center has continued to grow — the Wellness Center and Cancer Center are two prime examples of that.


The Wellness Center is a game-changer locally — a tool TRMC is using to keep locals fit earlier in life in an effort to curb the threat of preventable diseases.

Equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, an imaging center, a Sports Medicine Center, a Pain Center, full-sized pools, a basketball gym and much, much, more, the Wellness Center has become a rallying point among locals who are committed to staying active and healthy.

Membership numbers have exceeded expectations, according to Stock, who said that there is no better feeling than hearing stories of locals who’ve lost weight at the facility or who have been able to get off medications by getting healthy.


“We want everyone,” Stock said. “This is a place that’s designed for everyone to come out, enjoy themselves and focus on having ah happy, healthy life. We don’t want anyone to feel excluded or left out. We don’t want anyone to think that they can’t come to the Wellness Center. We want everyone.”

Universal wellness would be ideal, though TRMC knows it’s not realistic.

Simply put — stuff happens.


And when it does, the hospital wants you to know that they are making plans to change the name of the game for local medicine — again.

The Cancer Center aims to do that.

A $35 million project, which will encompass almost 100,000 square feet of the campus, the center will house some of the latest technologies available for fighting cancer.


The facility is expected to open in late 2020, according to Stock. And TRMC’s board chairman, Jake Giardina, said it’s vital locally because our area is so heavily touched by cancer.

“We have had a cancer center that has been in existence for quite some time and it is not serving the public in a way we know the public needs to be served in this area,” Giardina said. “Everything is changing. We did those other buildings, I think, in the 1990s. The equipment, just everything is changing, it has changed quite a bit. We want to be able to service the people of this community to the very best of our economic means.” •