West Ascension Parish Hospital recently secured state approval to formally establish the West Ascension Hospital Foundation, a dedicated vehicle for fundraising and community initiatives.
Cynthia Buggage, the hospital’s director of government relations and external affairs, tells Ascension Business Report the foundation is intended to support projects that fall outside the constraints of the hospital’s operating budget. “There are a lot of different things that [West Ascension Parish Hospital CEO Shelton Anthony] would like to do in the community, and rather than taking anything away from the hospital’s budget, he would like to do something that would be self-sustaining,” Buggage says.
Among the foundation’s priorities are pursuing grants and expanding community health programming.
One community initiative—a community garden—is already taking shape. The project aims to address food insecurity, with the hospital planning to distribute produce to patients and residents in need. Greenhouse infrastructure and garden beds are already in place, Buggage says. She adds that the effort has already drawn strong volunteer support.
The foundation is also expected to strengthen the hospital’s existing programs, like its workforce development initiatives. One such initiative placed roughly 20 students in hospital internships last summer, exposing them to careers in health care. “We’re going to try to strengthen that so we can have as many people going into the medical profession [as possible],” Buggage says. The foundation arrives as the hospital moves forward with plans to replace its aging facility—and that’s no coincidence.
“Of course, we’re getting ready to build a new hospital, so we wanted to sort of be prepared,” Buggage says. “If there’s any research or grant money we can get, we’d be prepared to receive it.”
West Ascension Parish Hospital, which does business as Prevost Memorial Hospital, is a public hospital located at 301 Memorial Drive in Donaldsonville, the parish seat of Ascension Parish. The hospital was established in the late 1960s to address a need for accessible health care in Donaldsonville and the surrounding rural areas.
