‘70 for 70’ history project: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! …

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Thursday, November 2, 2023

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‘70 for 70’ history project: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! …

Mike Scott, mscott@stph.org

Everybody knows it: We do things differently in South Louisiana.

So, when it came time to dedicate St. Tammany Health System’s new Skybridge spanning South Tyler Street in 2011, an ordinary, run-of-the-mill ribbon cutting just didn’t seem celebratory enough.

That brings us to today’s installment of our “70 for 70” history project, spotlighting various artifacts that help tell the health system’s seven-decade story.  

Installment No. 13: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! …

Today’s artifact: A 2011 video of St. Tammany Health System leadership christening the newly completed Skybridge over South Tyler Street with a New Orleans-style second-line.

Why it is significant: When St. Tammany Parish Hospital first opened its doors on Dec. 1, 1954, Covington was a considerably more rural place than it is today.

Not only was the 30-bed hospital surrounded by pines and green space, but that rural environment was touted as a benefit, with a patio built to give patients a chance to take in a little of the Northshore’s famous “ozone” air.

Today, it is surrounded by a bustling Northshore community, which is great – except when it comes time for expansion.

So, after buying land across busy South Tyler Street from the hospital – occupied today by the Charles A. Frederick Medical Office Complex, which includes the STHS-owned Covington Surgery Center – hospital leaders decided in 2010 to construct a 208-foot, $3 million skybridge spanning the roadway to provide pedestrians safe passage between the two buildings.

The catch: To build it, traffic would have to be shut down for several hours on South Tyler Street.

The solution: a spectacular maneuver in June 2011, in which a massive steel truss was hoisted into place by crane in the dead of night, to reduce the impact of the traffic disruption. (A number of night-owl spectators turned out to watch and photograph the event anyway.)

It would take a few months to finish the job and enclose the new air-conditioned Skybridge, but by November of that same year, it was ready to open.

Hospital leaders held a traditional ribbon cutting – and then they decided to have a little fun by inviting hospital staffers to join them in a New Orleans-style second-line across the thing – complete with custom-made hankies adorned with the hospital logo.

It was billed as a flash mob, a recognition of the then-emerging fad. But whatever you call it, that moment was an enthusiastic celebration of what has since become a key part of the Covington skyline – and a symbolic bridge to the hospital’s future, which has seen non-stop construction projects ever since.

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.

Members of STHS leadership join with other local dignitaries for the groundbreaking of the Skybridge project in November 2010. (STHS archive)

Crews drive pilings to support the Skybridge at the outset of construction in late 2010. (STHS archive)

Crews watch eagerly as the main truss of the St. Tammany Health System Skybridge is positioned into place over South Tyler Street in Covington during a dramatic midnight maneuver in mid-July 2011. (STHS archive)

The steel framing of the Skybridge begins to take shape along South Tyler Street in a photo from June 2011. (STHS archive)

STHS colleagues wave St. Tammany-branded hankies as they second-line across the newly completed Skybridge in November 2011. (STHS archive)

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