Never mind that some joker wrote “14K” on one of them with a Sharpie. The well-worn golden shovels in storage alongside a wall of blueprints at St. Tammany Health System aren’t really gold.
A little spray paint goes a long way when it comes to such matters.
But that doesn’t make them any less special, given their role in the health system’s continued expansions over the years.
That’s why they get the spotlight today in our 70-part history series highlighting various artifacts from the health system’s history as we countdown to our 70th anniversary on Dec. 1.
Installment No. 44: Can you dig it?
Today’s artifacts: A collection of gold-painted shovels used for groundbreaking ceremonies at St. Tammany Health System.
Why they are significant: As Wednesdays go, May 6, 1953, was a momentous one in the history of St. Tammany Parish.
That was the day the champions of the local effort to build a community hospital in Covington finally broke ground on what would become St. Tammany Parish Hospital, after years of planning and rallying community support.
Nobody knows exactly what happened to the shovel used that day by inaugural Hospital Board Chairman Oliver Hebert, but its successors have been put to near constant use as the hospital has continuously worked over the years to match local population growth.
In fact, it started just a couple of years after the hospital opened, with the breaking of ground on its first expansion, a new wing that upon its 1958 completion added 14 beds, a nearly 50% increase over the hospital’s original 30 beds.
It continued in 1974 with the addition of 31 more beds and an obstetrics unit, then again with a $4 million expansion unveiled in 1978 – and pretty much continuously ever since, both at the main hospital campus and at the two dozen or so clinics and other offices the health system operates throughout St. Tammany Parish.
The shovels in use today show a fair bit of wear here and there, a sign of their repeated use. It might be time for them to be retired and replaced soon, too.
That’s OK, though. It isn’t the actual shovels that are important. It is what they represent: a dedication by the health system since Day 1 to grow along with the Northshore community it serves – and, in the process, to deliver world-class healthcare close to home.
How can you not dig that?
Do you have a St. Tammany Parish Hospital story or item to share? We’d love to hear about it! Email us at CommDept@stph.org.
Next week – Installment No. 45: Drawn to care
Last week – Installment No. 43: ‘Community spirit’