LSU Health Shreveport on Wednesday unveiled plans to transform an empty Shreveport hospital into an integrated health care campus that will be a hub for education, research and patient care.
The Shreveport Times reports the medical school’s officials announced the plans along with representatives for Christus Health Northern Louisiana.
The vision for the old Christus Schumpert St. Mary Place campus includes expanded patient care services, pharmaceutical research and clinical trials to enhance the educational experience of medical students.
The hospital has been dormant since it closed in 2013. And in June, Christus Health announced it had donated the facility to a newly created nonprofit, Margaret Place Properties. The nonprofit is in the process of obtaining health-care related tenants and working to determine what space can be used by the medical school.
The donation includes the 18-acre hospital facility, several adjacent medical office buildings and a parking garage.
“We wanted the campus to be used in a way that would be constructive for the community at large, as well as the Highland neighborhood,” said Isaac Palmer, CEO of Christus. “That it also contributes to the stabilization and growth of LSU Health Shreveport is even better. This is a win-win.”
