$4 Million Aid at Confederate to be Sought

              $4 Million Aid
At Confederate
To Be Sought
Dr. Rod M. Yeager, director
of Confederate Memorial
Medical Center will ask the
Louisiana Legislature for $4
million from the state capital
outlay budget to complete the
$12 million needed for Phases
II and III of its renovation
program.
P h a s e I is almost
completed, said Yeager.
Financing Told
Three million dollars of the
$4 million is necessary for the
hospital to receive $2 million
in Hill-Burton funds, for a
total of $6 million for Phase II.
Phase III will be financed
by an estimated $150,000 per
year in bonds issued and paid
for by Louisiana Dowas
Racpirack revenue, said
Yeager.
Yeager has drawn up a long
range capital improvements
plan for the Confederate,
which is also the teaching
hospital for the Louisiana
State University Medical
School at Shreveport.
Major improvements
include air conditioning the
hospital, addition of a
three-story facility, and a
700-car parking garage.
Yeager pointed out that
patient care areas receive top
priority in the renovation
plan.
Yeager is taking the
program to the public. He met
T h u r s d a y with area
legislaters and with the
Shreveport Chamber of
Commerce Board of Directors
in two separate meetings
earlier this week to outline the
program.
Yeager, who has been
hospital director for a year,
points out that since
Confederate's physical plant
was constructed in 1953, "no
s i g n i f i c a n t c a p i t a l
improvements have been
funded until work began on
the new outpaitent facility,"
which opened last year.
Phase I will be finished this
year. It includes the
Coronary, medical and
surgical intensive care units;
coblt therapy units, recovery
room; Newborn Intensive
C a r e Unit; cardiac
chateterizatin laboratory,
respiratory care center, and
clinical research center.
Phase II will include:
1. Rehabilitation of nursing
units, $2,894,000. This will
include conversion of wards
from two and four-bed wards
to two, three and one-bed
rooms, and private toilet and
lavatory facilities in each
patient room.
2. Renovation of the
surgical and obstetrics suites,
$557,000.
3. Fire and safety code
requirements compliance,
$70,000. This will mean new
n o n c o m b u s t i b l e ty p e
suspended ceiling system;
replacing existing smoke
partitions with proper smoke
partitions which extend from
the floor through the ceiling to
the deck above; replacing
existing doors of every
stairway opening throughout
t h e b u i l d i n g with
appropriately rated doors,
and installation of smoke
detectors at (he ceiling in all
waiting room areas. Yoagers
emphasizes that these are
mandatory regulations.
4. Exterior repairs, $334,000.
"Because of inadequate
f u n d i n g , preventive
maintenance has never been
practiced at Confederate,"
said Yeager. "This has
resulted in the exterior
structure deteriorating to the
point that immediate action is
necessary." Included under
this title are cleaning of
exterior surfaces, repair of
settlement cracks, new roof
and repair of defective motar
joints.
5. Air conditioning the
hospital, $650,000. This will
p r o v i d e a controlled
environment for inpatient
care areas.
6. Updating the electrical
service, $167,000. The long
range plan terms the
electrical service, "by and
large, obsolete."
7. Establishment of a
Regional Comprehensive
Renal Disease Program,
$25,000.
8. Emergency medical
services, $25,000. Kxpansion
of the trauma area to include
an intensive care unit, a burn
unit, additional x-ray
facilities, laceration and
f r a c t u r e rooms, an
o b s e r v a t i o n area and
emergency medical service
communication center.
9. Automation of elevators
and installation of one
additional elevator, $412,000.
10. Addition of a linerar
accelerator to the Cobalt
therapy Unit, $295,000
Phrase III will include:
1. Renovation of (he first
floor and ground floor, $1.5
million.
2. A 9,000-square foot
three-story addition, $540,000.
The facility will be built over
the present auditorium and
will mean more space for
radiology, pathology and
obstetrics and gynecology.
3. Additional radiology
equipment, $29,000.
4. Additional laboratory
equipment, $350,000.
5. Drainage improvements,
$20,000.
6. Construction of a high -
rise, 700 - car parking garage,
$2,310,000.
7. Air conditioning of the
school of nursing, $500,000.
8. Moveahle equipment,
$150,000,