Medicine Through the 1960s: Great Strides, Soaring Costs

              _, , (Times Photo by Langston McEachern)
Shreveport-Bossier Area's First Open Heart Surgery
. . . performed by Dr. J. Stanford Shelby (center)
(Times Photo by Terry R. Vaughan)
1-11-1970 Bossier General Hospital Has Been Open Since 1966
. . . newest in area and further construction under way
Medicine Through the 1960s:
Great Strides, Soaring Costs
By Margaret Martin
m Times Medical Writer
I The soaring cost of medical
•are, new treatments old dis-lases,
vaccines for dread crip-
Rlers and the rise of the
Khreveport-Bossier City area as
p medical complex made head-flines
during the 1960s.
Helping establish the area as a
medical center is the Louisiana
State University Medical School
at Shreveport, presently training
32 young men to become physi-cians.
The school opened this fall at
the Veterans Administration Hos-pital,
which is a Dean's Commit-tee
hospital. Plans are being
drawn for the new plant for the
school on the g r o u n d s of
Confederate Memorial Medical
Center.
In the Shreveport-Bossier City
area, the cost of hospital room
rates have at least doubled over
the past 10 years. At one
institution the cost has almost
quadrupled.
Updating of equipment, in-creased
labor costs, including
inclusion of hospitals under the
umbrella of the minimum wage
law RX'J technological advances
were considered the major rea-sons
for increased costs by local
hospital officials, although medi-care
and new drugs were also
mentioned.
Robert DeBacker, associate
administrator at Schumpert Me-morial
Hospital, said that one
reason for rising costs was
"normal inflationary trends dur-ing
the 10 years," but he
attributed three main factors to
increased hospital rates.
He said that, in general. Ihe
hospital labor force wage rates
have lagged behind salaries of
other groups, "but these labor
forces have now demanded high-er
and comparable rates to other
industries.' '
" T h i s , " DeBacker added,
"caused wage rate increases at a
fast pace, meaning a narrowing
gap between hospitals and other
industries."
Debacker aslo explained that
"hospitals were not under the
umbrella of the minimum wage
law until 1966" and "the impact
was readily felt when it came
into effect in 1966."
Technology Advances
Both DeBacker and James K.
Elrod, administrator at Willis-
Knighton Hospital, said techno-logical
advances bring costs up,
"since there is more and more
sophisticated and expensive
equipment being manufactured."
Describing obsolete equipment
as a real enemy, Etrod said,
"A hospital can buy a piece
of equipment today for $65,000
and next month there will be a
better machine."
During the 1960s, medicare
legislation, a hospital insurance
for the elderly, was enacted.
Schumpert was the only insti-tution
in the area to participate
in medicare when it came into
effect. Today, virtually all hospi-tals
and nursing homes in North
Louisiana are eligible to accept
medicare patients.
Stepped-up hospital construc-tion
during the past 10 years
shows that there are 2,260
hospital beds now in use in the
Shreveport and Bossier City
area, excluding specialized cen-ters
such as Shriner's Hospital
for Crippled Children and the
The Pines Sanitorium.
About $8 million in construc-tion
is under way in the various
hospital complexes. The building
programs will add more than 400
beds for the area's medically
needy.
Planned or part of major
expansion programs are 476
additional beds.
Hospital Constructed
Another hospital was construct-ed
during the decade — Bossier
General Hospital was opened in
1966, with 100 beds. Construction
totaling $3 million is planned for
the future and will include 80
additional beds, a new boiler
room, mechanical equipment, a
mainlenanee shop, and enlarge-ment
of the business office and
dietary section.
Construction at Willis-Knighton
has totaled $3 million during the
past 10 years, and under way
how is a $1,750,000 addition.
which will add 75 beds to the
institution.
A $2 million section is being
buili, for Highland Hospital,!
making a total of $3 million in
construction since 1960 and add-ing
131 rooms to the 112-bed
hospital.
Doctors Hospital has spent $2
million on new building since the
start of the decade. Doctors
Hospital has 170 beds and is
planning for 120 more.
Construction is nearing com-pletion
on Schumpert's $2 million
program. During the past 10
years, the hospital has spent
$1,850,000 on an expansion pro-gram
and new equipment. Thir-ty-
five beds will be added to the
351-bed hospital at the end of the
phase I construction program.
Cost of a renovation and
expansion program at P&S Hos-pital
during the decade was $1.5
million. The institution has 155
beds.
Fairfield Hospital has a total
of 35 beds.
Veterans Administration Hospi-tal
has 450 beds, and Confederate
has 730.
Opening at Barksdale
Expected to be open by next
January is $5.5 million Barksdale
Air Force Base Hospital. The
new facility will house 110
patients, 35 more than the
present structure.
The Shreveport Mental Health
Center has a new $500,000 clinic
on 2.5 acres on North Hearne
Ave., with expanded services for
both children and adults in the
fields of guidance, treatment of
alcoholism, services for patients
recently released for institutional
care and mental health treat-ment
for emotionally or mentally
disturbed patients.
Also moving into new quarters
was the. Shreveport Emergency
Blood Bank. New home for the
bank is a $69,000 building on
Kings Highway across from
Confederate Memorial.
The Caddo Shreveport-Health
Unit was designated as a yellow
fever vaccination center, began
dog shot clinics in the parish and
received international attention
for the Mooretown Community
Project.
Although it was more expen-sive,
medical care saved more
lives during the 1960s. More
cures and better treatments were
found, and vaccines for polio and
measles and mumps also wiped
out these childhood diseases.
"People are walking out of
hospitals today who would not
have walked out of them 10
years ago," Elrod said.
The term coronary intensive
care unit has come into common
usage in ' the Shreveport area.
The first open heart surgery in
Shreveport was performed at
Confederate Memorial during the
decade.
Better cancer detection and
treatment was made available
during the 10 years.
Area residents swallowed the
Sabin polio vaccine on a sugar
cube, were injected with measles
and mumps vaccines and took
oral contraceptives, better known
as The Pill.
Studies were conducted and
new and advanced treatment for
alcoholism was found.
Willis-Knighton Hospital an-nounced
plans for a satellite
hospital in the southern section
of Shreveport.
Taking a look at the future,
Dr. J. A. Hendrick, president of
the Shreveport Medical Society,
predicted improved treatment
for cancer, refinement of surgi-cal
sutures and more automation
in the laboratory.
On the darker side, he said
there would be an increased need
for and a continued shortage of
paramedical personnel.
The decade of the 19603 was
the era of transplants, new
vaccines and construction of
major medical complexes.
Shreveport started its rise as a
medical center.
And. the 1960s served as a
prelude to the 1970s in manv
areas of medicine, as research-ists
dug for clues to the cure
for cancer, birth defects and the
common cold.