LSU-VA hospital to replace Charity by 2011
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Charity Hospital, the 270-year-old institution that for generations was the medical epicenter of this city's uninsured, will be replaced by a $1.2 billion medical center that marries two agencies, officials announced Monday.
Charity, which sustained significant damage during last year's hurricane, has been under lock and key since the storm, its fate a matter of intense debate. Although officials have no immediate plans for the old hospital's Art Deco building, they announced plans to combine two of the city's medical powerhouses under one roof: Louisiana State University, which ran Charity, will join with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which ran the former U.S. Veterans Administration hospital.
The VA hospital also was flooded.
The shared medical complex will be comprised of two hospitals — LSU to build a 10- to 12-story tower and the VA to build an eight- to 10-story tower, which would be connected by a common "linking corridor" building that would house shared functions such as a physical plant, an emergency room and certain labs and testing equipment.
The hospital is scheduled to open in 2011 in downtown New Orleans.
http://www.lra.louisiana.gov/assets/...dout051606.pdf