Confederate Board Okays Electrical System Survey

              TODAY'S NEWS TODAY—WITH TODAY'S PICTURES T
Three Failures Last Year—
Confederate Board Okays
Electrical System Survey
Dr. Edgar Galloway, direc-tor
of Confederate Memorial
Medical Center, told members
of the board Tuesday night
that a look at the hospital's
electrical system is urgent.
"Last year", he said, "the
hospital experienced t h r e e
major power failures. At one
time, the power system was
out for eight hours."
GALLOWAY SAID that a
casual survey by John J. Guth
Jr. showed that the following
needed to be done:
1. Make load estimates for
electrical system and deter-mine
present loads and future
capabilites. This can be done
with instruments and field
surveys. Make recommenda-tions
for required modifica-tions.
2. Review ventilation sys-tem
for electrical apparatus
and make recommendations.
3. DETERMINE emergency
power requirements and make
recommendations for genera-tor
and emergency electrical
system.
4. Determine future require-ments
and make recommen-dations.
The board agreed that the
s i t u a t i o n was critical and
voted to have a thorough
check made by Guth at an
estimated fee of $1,000 to
$1,500. Board members were
t o l d that expenditures of
Confederate totaled $7,093,303
for the eight months just
ended. The items not included
in this amount, said associate
administrator,. Robert Hall,
are employee's retirement at
$20,764 and professional serv-ices:
due LSU Medical School
amounting to approximately
$64,000.
LSU MEDICAL School has
not billed the hospital for
professional services s i n c e
September and the statement
was from the retirement sys-tem
was lost in the mail. An
adjustment reflects an over-all
deficiency of $77,684 in the
hospital's budget on Feb. 29,
1972.
There was an over expendi-ture
of $58,461 in the contrac-tual
services account at Feb.
29, primarily due to insurance
premiums and maintenance
contracts paid at the begin-ning
of the year. The mate-rials
and supplies account
reflected an over expenditure
of $49,913 at the end of the
current eight-month period,
compared to an over expendi-ture
of $131,960 at the same
time last year.
Patient statistics continue to
show an increase in utilization
over last year said Hall.
Loca! Firm Files
Suit for Damages
Totaling $217,000
A petition seeking $217,000
in damages has been filed in
U.S. District Court here nam-ing
the Louisiana Department
of Highways and Department
of Transportation Secretary
John Volpe as defendants.
Entering the litigation was
Beaird-Poulan, Inc. who con-tends
the suit was initiated to
recover moving e x p e n s e s
owned by the Highway De-partment
and the federal body
governing the nation's trans-portation
matters.
The firm relocated its of-fices
from 5320 Greenwood
Road to 5020 Flournoy Lucas
Road after the company's
facilities and land was ac-quired
by the state for the
I-220 bypass planned for the
city. The bypass is scheduled
to receive federal funds to
bolster state financing.
The suit further asks the
court for an injunction requir-ing
Volpe to amend any
agreements with the Highway
Department to embrace costs
involved in Beaird-Poulan's
relocation.
Citing the Uniform Reloca-tion
A s s i s t a n c e and Real
Property Acquisition Policies
of 1970 as the basis for its
claim, Beaird-Poulan asked
the court to refuse approval of
any agreements w i t h the
highway department until as-surance
has been received
that relocation costs will be
paid.
Operating expense per patient
day averaged $56.75 for the
eight months just ended, an
increase of $.53 or one per
cent over last year. Operating
expense per patient day at
The Pines Sanatorium aver-aged
$37 per day.
MEDICARE-MEDICAID col-lections
for the eight months
just ended totaled $2,329,691,
while receipts for ineligible
patients amounted to $195, 696
for this period.
The hospital board approved
for appointment to the visiting
staff Dr. George R. Grimes,
Department of Radiology; Dr.
James Woodard Johnson, De-partment
of Internal Medi-cine;
Dr. Clinton Gayle Mc-
Alister, Department of Ortho-paedic
Surgery.
Dr. Andrew Mullen, report-ing
on building and grounds,
said plans for two intensive
care units — medicine and
surgery—and supervoltage
therapy facilities had been
reviewed and approved by the
committee.
BOARD MEMBERS, who
gave the go-ahead on the
project will take an extimated
six to eight months to com-plete.
The hospital director also
told the board that the new
parking lot adjacent to the
Confederate School of Nursing
is ready for use, although it
will take a few days to get
operating procedures worked
out.