West Ascension Parish Hospital is advancing plans to replace its aging facility in Donaldsonville.
The hospital issued a request for proposals for architectural services in January and is now narrowing in on a firm to lead the project, according to Cynthia Buggage, the hospital’s director of government relations and external affairs.
Roughly 10 companies submitted proposals, and the hospital’s board has now trimmed the pool to four finalists.
“They’ve narrowed it down to four, and they’re going to be interviewing them to see who moves forward,” Buggage tells Ascension Business Report.
While details on cost and timeline remain unclear, the hospital has already secured a site for the new facility.
According to Buggage, the hospital has purchased land “right behind the present hospital,” placing the future facility adjacent to River Parishes Community College’s new training center and keeping it within the same general footprint as the existing campus.
The project is intended as a full replacement—not an expansion—of the current facility.
“It’s going to be a brand-new hospital,” Buggage says.
The hospital’s request for qualifications describes the proposed hospital as a “state-of-the-art 25-bed facility” complete with a 24/7 emergency department; diagnostic, imaging and laboratory services; infusion delivery; and “possible partnerships with other health care providers.”
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. Its current facility is more than 50 years old.
