Master Facilities Plan for Growth Announced

St. Tammany Parish Hospital to Reveal Plan at Covington Planning and Zoning

COVINGTON – St. Tammany Parish Hospital filed plans today for the Sept. 18 Covington Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to reveal expansion plans for a phased construction project beginning this fall.

St. Tammany Parish Hospital worked with FL+WB Architects and OptimaLogix Consultants to develop a comprehensive master facilities plan to steer strategic direction for the next five to 15 years. The resulting plan centers on increased capacity for private rooms, parking, critical care, obstetrics, interventional cardiology, imaging and surgery.

“We recognize our responsibility to the residents of west St. Tammany and surrounding areas,” said John Evans, chairman of the St. Tammany Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 Board of Commissioners. “This hospital was established so that families here would not have to travel long distances for the care they need, and as the population grows, so do our services and capabilities. This next project will address growing needs for parking and patient care.”

The patient care space will increase private patient rooms for critical care at the main hospital, while parking will be added both east and west of Tyler St. Initial activity will occur west of Tyler St. along 8^th Ave., Tyler St. and Polk St. The small white building at 1419 S. Tyler and the small structures facing 8^th behind there will be removed to add a parking lot. Later phases will expand parking east of Tyler St. at Harrison, removing the Riverside Building, west of Tyler adjacent to the new lot.

After parking phases are complete, the project will focus on building flexibility for future use and eventual repurposing of the oldest structures in the main hospital away from patient use and to nonclinical care space.

To address patient privacy, expansion will eliminate some semiprivate rooms. The hospital has added units of all private rooms repeatedly in the past three expansion projects and remains committed to building new private-room units going forward. As new units of private suites are put into use caring for patients, hospital construction teams will retrofit older units of semi-private rooms, ultimately emphasizing private-room environments for inpatients. Analysis of the bed need reveals a growth trajectory through 2030, rounding out around 245 beds in the 12-year projection.

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A full-service acute care facility committed to providing world-class healthcare and the latest technology, St. Tammany Parish Hospital delivers today’s life-improving procedures with the utmost care to area residents with emphasis on wellness, preventive care and disease management close to home. STPH is recognized for quality, safety and the patient experience by Leapfrog, Hospital Compare, Healthgrades, CareChex and Women’s Choice. STPH is a self-supporting not-for-profit community hospital; it receives no ad valorem tax funding. Learn more at stph.org.