Almost 50 years of care

Ochsner St. Anne Hospital, once a small clinic-style facility catering to the needs of the growing Raceland community, is now the thriving cornerstone for health services in the Bayou Region. It is among the leaders in healthcare today and the future of the institution is ever evolving.

The hospital, as it stands today, was built in 1967 and established by physician brothers Phillip and Richard Robichaux, and originally operated on just three floors with a designated room on each of the two inpatient care floors for critical care.

In the 1980s, the fourth floor became operational to hold the intensive care unit. Today, services have extended beyond the main building to include an on-campus emergency department and six clinics, two of which are satellite locations that extend convenient access into the Lockport and Cut Off communities.

When accidents happen, Ochsner St. Anne’s full service emergency department is prepared to handle any situation and patients seldom wait more than a few minutes before seeing a physician. Emergency room wait times are usually between five and 15 minutes at Ochsner St. Anne, an advantage to patient convenience that is almost unheard of, and a deciding factor for many when choosing an emergency department, according to the hospital’s Chief Operating Officer Fernis Leblanc.

This exceptional service to patient care is just one of the factors that earns the hospital a CMS 4 Star Hospital Rating, a designation based on patient satisfaction that places Ochsner St. Anne amongst the top healthcare providers in the nation. It also serves as a Level II Wellspot, those places designated by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals that make it easier for state citizens to live well.

For primary care issues such as the common cold and management of chronic illnesses, Ochsner St. Anne’s focus lies squarely on providing quality care close to home while delivering access to healthcare at times convenient for the patient. That means same day service with or without an appointment and extended hours at many of the hospital’s clinics.

With significant aim placed on addressing the challenge of protecting the health of the working class, the Ochsner St. Anne clinics address the barriers to access that might prevent a patient from coming in for necessary refills or preventative health maintenance in a timely manner. Citing the economy as a major influence, these primary care centers extend access to as late as 7PM for appointments in some areas so as to provide real and meaningful opportunity for patients to be cared for at their convenience.

This continual drive to accommodate patients also includes expansion of staff and services. In 2015, four new providers joined the Ochsner St. Anne team, bringing with them the latest in medical advances and training. Of the four, two physicians, Dr. Megan Hartman, Family Medicine, and Dr. Sarah Knight, Internal Medicine, hail from the Raceland area.

For those who experience the women’s services offered at the hospital, the setting is both intimate and compassionate. The three labor and delivery suites are newly updated to feel more like a stay at a luxury hotel and the predominantly female, five-physician team, prides itself on supporting women in whatever decisions they make while guiding those decisions with research-based evidence.

This translates into free classes for both Ochsner and non-Ochsner visitors on breastfeeding, childbirth, CPR and sibling involvement, state-of-the-art technology including 4D mammograms and ultrasounds and personal touches like skin-to-skin therapy and couplet care for mom and baby. This astute attention taken to create an exceptional birthing experience labels the hospital as “Gift” designated, one-step from receiving “Baby Friendly” status, an indicator that the hospital is providing optimal care for both infant and mother. The hospital expects to achieve “Baby Friendly” status sometime in the coming year, resulting in St. Anne joining a very short list of facilities in the state to receive this accolade.

One of the newest additions to the Ochsner St.

Anne campus is a Specialty Health Center in Raceland, a home for visiting and staff doctors to service the needs of the community. Specialties include neurology, urology, orthopedics, pain management, gastroenterology and roughly seven pediatric subsets. A minimal invasive thoracic surgeon is also set to join the group in the near future.

As with the services provided, the hospital consistently looks for ways to reach as many as possible,

including through outreach programs. Nutrition seminars, free health screenings and wellness expos, and partnerships with businesses and civic organizations extend the hospital’s reach with the goal of continuously strengthening the bond between community and hospital. A medically-managed Ideal Protein program, offered through the Women’s Health Center, and a Smoking Cessation program, which has a roughly 60 percent success rate, are also offered, acting as resources for physicians to offer when addressing social determinants of health. This commitment to community also extends into philanthropy as the hospital works with an engaged group of employees to fundraise for various health-related charitable organizations.

All of this work would not flow as efficiently without the dedicated use of technological advances including the inner network system, MyOchsner, and its parent, Epic, a top-tier electronic medical record software.

MyOchsner gives patients the capability to access test results, make an appointment, view health alerts or reach their care provider via email day or night. Providing huge incentive for the patients to remain loyal to the Ochsner system, the capabilities of this elite medical record system allow for all of an individual’s health records to be maintained within one database. Whether being treated by a specialist in one facility, or receiving emergency care in another, patients are offered enhanced quality and safety as a result of this software’s vast reach.

In March, Ochsner St. Anne also earned the HIMSS 7 Award, an honor bestowed upon hospitals showcasing optimal adoption and use of electronic medical recording. Hospitals and health systems work to reach eight stages as a measure of effectiveness, with the ultimate goal being stage seven, an environment where paper charts are no longer used. With this honor, the hospital joins the ranks of six other Ochsner hospitals; however, no other hospitals in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Arkansas have yet reached this level of achievement.

Though the interworkings of Ochsner St. Anne Hospital are sophisticated, one simple goal remains at the forefront of the hospital’s hard work: continuing to provide access to a wide range of individualized healthcare services to those that call the Bayou Region home.

“We want our community to feel as though our physicians are available and accessible to them,” Leblanc explained. “Providing the highest quality of care, close to home, while still ensuring the most convenient access to the resources of the world-class Ochsner Health System, allows us to deliver a peace of mind that is invaluable to our friends, neighbors, and family members as patients of Ochsner St. Anne.”

-Intern Allison Fail contributed to this story

Ochsner St. Anne was built in 1967 and established by physician brothers Phillip and Richard Robichaux. Today, the hospital features four floors and has won countless awards for its overall excellence in taking care of patients.

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