NEW ORLEANS -- Their fight isn't new, but those behind the effort to save Charity Hospital say they're re-energized.
"You can put your LSU hospital in Charity. You can do it $280 million cheaper, and you can do it as much as two years faster," said William Borah, a board member for Smart Growth for Louisiana.
Borah is hopeful the new city administration will listen. Borah and others say the Mayor Mitch Landrieu has indicated he will. "We're asking the mayor to take a really hard look at this,” he said. “This thing is not too far down the road (that) it can't be stopped."
Wednesday, Landrieu’s Press Secretary Ryan Berni sent this statement:
"Even when he disagrees, Mayor Landrieu is always willing to listen to residents' point of view on a given issue. In this case, Mayor Landrieu is committed to moving forward with the University Medical Center in Mid-City while finding an adaptive reuse for the old Charity Hospital building."
Opponents vow to keep up the fight, though. To back up the argument, Martha Owen hopes to get 10,000 signatures on a petition. She said she's passed the 7,000 mark.
"They're not opposed to health care. They're not opposed to a teaching hospital. They're not opposed to economic development," Owen said, referring to those who signed the document.
Owen said they are, however, against what they believe is a disregarding of studies that have suggested Charity could come back as a hospital, more quickly, and for less money than the plan LSU wants to carry out.
Owens and other opponents to LSU’s hospital plan say they’ll march Thursday afternoon from the old Charity facility to City Hall to deliver the petitions.
In response, LSU officials point out -- a teaching system that produces 70 percent of the physicians in the state needs the proposed upgrade to stay competitive.
"If you want these medical students to stay and practice in Louisiana, you have to afford them the opportunity to work and train in a first class hospital. Charity Hospital, of which I have very fond memories, and remember, to me, what made Charity special wasn't the structure per se, it was the people and the patients inside," said Dr. Steve Nelson, dean of LSU’s Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. "While there have been other thoughts about how you might rework that facility, remember, many of those don't take into account an ambulatory care, you know, for outpatients."
For opponents, the concerns run even deeper.
Those against the LSU plan say their argument is about more than just saving the old Charity facility. They also don't want to see the demolition of the Mid-City neighborhood where the new hospital is scheduled for construction.
The land acquisition effort is well underway, though, and according to LSU officials, around $40 million has already been spent buying properties.
William Borah said it's damaging to the city's history.
"It's not the way to do things,” Borah said. “We recognized this in the 50s and 60s. It's urban renewal by removal, and it's been frowned upon."
LSU officials say plans for the new hospital would spur economic development in the area, create jobs, and offer top level educational opportunities for medical students.
