Just in case: Evacuation center ready

BUNKIE, La. – The geography and climate of south Louisiana make this less of a prediction than a guarantee: at some point in the future, a major hurricane threatening the Mississippi Gulf Coast will trigger a mandatory evacuation of residents in the Greater New Orleans area.

After experiencing monumental challenges in evacuating hundreds of elderly residents from Chateau de Notre Dame and Wynhoven Health Care Center before the landfalls of Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Gustav in 2008, the Archdiocese of New Orleans purchased a 46,000-square-foot former Winn-Dixie supermarket in Bunkie – about 30 miles south of Alexandria.

Over the last 18 months, the store has been converted into a fully equipped medical evacuation facility, complete with 435 beds, nursing stations, Internet service, communications links, physical therapy equipment and a commercial kitchen to serve hot meals. Another contract calls for an auxiliary generator to be shipped in as an emergency backup when the facility needs to be used.

A $1 million investment

The archdiocese purchased the former supermarket, which opened in 1997 but closed in a corporate downsizing in 2005, for $550,000. Retrofitting the building into a ready-to-use medical facility will cost another $450,000, but that price is considered minimal when weighed against the responsibility of caring for the large population of elderly patients, said Wayne Plaisance, chief executive officer of Chateau and Wynhoven.

The new facility also offers a peace of mind to both families and residents, Plaisance said. The Bunkie facility is the only fully equipped emergency medical facility associated a New Orleans-area nursing home, said Art Callegari, a registered nurse and vice president of business development of Notre Dame Hospice

“It’s really a question people should ask when they are admitted to a nursing home in the New Orleans area,” Plaisance said. “Evacuation for a hurricane is a such a reality, and this center can be used for more than just evacuating for hurricanes. There could be a chemical (spill) issue.”

Having regular beds in place is a boon compared to previous evacuations, Plaisance said, because for Katrina and Gustav the elderly patients were moved to Catholic school gyms in Baton Rouge, where their mattresses were placed on the floor. Most of the beds in the Bunkie facility were freed up when Chateau and Wynhoven replaced their beds in renovations after Katrina.

“This facility is a necessity because you’ve got to think in terms of our staff,” Plaisance said. “The staff can hurt their backs when they are constantly bending down. Also, it’s a hardship on the residents to put a little mattress on the floor and lay somebody down, as sick as they are.”

Central La. location is key

With the massive flooding in Katrina, archdiocesan official had to scramble to place residents in nursing homes across the state. Also, during Gustav, even Baton Rouge was affected by widespread power outages. That’s why the decision was made to look even further north for a facility. Plaisance got tipped off to the site by Marianite Sister Ann Lacour, a New Orleans native who was superintendent of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Alexandria.

The former grocery still has a few modifications underway, said Harry Cooper, facility services director for Chateau de Notre Dame, but it is ready to go for this hurricane season. Signs on the walls still proclaim “Fresh Produce,” “Choice Aged Beef” and “Wall of Values.” Workers last week were busy installing brackets for four large flat-screen TVs that will provide information and entertainment during the evacuation.

The open layout provides a very effective way of caring for the patients.

“When we purchased it, the only thing missing was the food and the cash registers in the front,” Cooper said. “There were 18 tons of metal shelving that took two 40-foot trucks to haul off. Refrigeration units lined all the walls. We salvaged a large walk-in cooler and we activated a freezer and an icemaker. Then we brought in a fully furnished kitchen from Wynhoven.”

Quick turnaround

The new facility greatly reduces the amount and weight of supplies that have to be shipped in case of an evacuation. Instead of requiring three 26-foot trucks to haul mattresses and medical supplies, the evacuation now can be handled with one 16-foot truck, Cooper said. The only equipment shipped will be medication carts and specialized feeding pumps.

Additionally, 18-inch-wide wheelchairs used by airlines to get elderly persons on and off airplanes have been purchased to ease the loading of patients onto buses. Specialized wheelchair ramps have been fabricated to make it easier for rolling patients onto the buses.

The archdiocese also has leased half of a former Wal-Mart store in Bunkie to house staff members and their family members. The cooking for residents and staff will be done at the Winn-Dixie facility.

Win-win situation

Bunkie Mayor Mike Robertson said the new evacuation facility is good news for the city as well as for the elderly patients.

“We’re glad to have something in an empty building,” Robertson said. “When the state does contraflow (in an evacuation), Bunkie is the first exit where anyone can get off of I-49. We have an auditorium that serves as our emergency evacuation center. People come here because it’s the first exit they can get off. We usually fill up first, and then we’re able to direct people north. The state has also opened up a new emergency evacuation center at LSU-Alexandria that’s humongous (230,000 square feet and capable of housing thousands of evacuees and response personnel).”

Callegari said one of the biggest benefits of the new facility is having rehab equipment in place so that patients can stick as closely as possible to their regular exercise routines.

“We’re really proud of the fact that when we’re here we can continue every bit of medical care that they are getting now, without interruption, in this facility,” Callegari said. “If you get a 10-day lapse in therapies, that means a lot to somebody in their 70s, especially the intensive therapies we do.”

The archdiocese also is looking at other possible uses for the building when it is not needed as an evacuation facility. It might serve as a food distribution center for seniors. The archdiocese offered the building to the city in case it needed to house evacuees from Mississippi River flooding, which did not materialize.

Callegari said families with loved ones in Chateau and Wynhoven are thrilled to have the evacuation center in place.

“They thank God that they’re not going to have to worry where their loved ones are going to get medical treatment or where we’re going to place them,” Callegari said. “It’s going to be a seamless continuum of care.”

Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at [email protected].