State lawmakers from the Capital Region Legislative Delegation gathered on the steps of the Capitol this week with dozens of leaders from local community groups and faith-based organizations to protest the recently announced closure of Baton Rouge General Medical Center’s Mid City emergency room.
“We are here today to demand—to demand—that the Mid City emergency room stay open until a viable plan has been devised,” said event organizer Alma Stewart, who heads the group Campaign for Health Care for Everyone Louisiana.
Last week, Baton Rouge General announced that mounting losses of some $2 million per month will force the hospital to shutter the facility within 60 days. Though hospital officials have said they are working with Our Lady of the Lake and other community partners on an alternative plan, which will include opening an urgent care center near the existing hospital, lawmakers said closing a major emergency room in the middle of the city will put everyone at risk.
“In less than 60 days we will all be in danger,” said Sen. Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb, D-Baton Rouge.
Meanwhile, downtown residents and workers are also concerned about what the ER closure will mean for their ability to access care. Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer sent an email Monday to Baton Rouge General CEO Mark Slyter and Board Chair Janice Pellar underscoring how many people visit downtown on a daily basis and how they potentially will be at risk without a nearby ER.
Also this week, Metro Councilwoman C. Denise Marcelle held a press conference to call for the resignation of Capital Area Transit System CEO Bob Mirabito, saying he lacks leadership skills, mistreats employees and has failed to deliver on bus services promised in the 2012 CATS tax election. Mirabito defended his performance, and CATS board chairwoman and Metro Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis also came to his defense, saying she stands firmly behind the CEO.
“We are committed to making sure our riders remain the focus of all that we do as an agency,” Collins-Lewis says in a statement. “Bob Mirabito has shown us through the improvements made over the past year that he has that same commitment.”
Read the complete Daily Report Week in Review for a rundown of all of this week’s top local stories.
—Steve Sanoski
