The financial toll of the August flood on Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center was more than $10 million, according to CEO Scott Wester.
While that represents just 1% or the institution’s overall budget, it’s still a significant hit the hospital will have to absorb over the coming months.
“It’s a lot of money,” Wester says. “So we’re doing like everybody else, looking closely at all our expenses to determine whether we really need to make certain purchases or fill certain positions.”
Some 2,300 OLOL employees system wide were directly affected by the flood, including 1,800 who work at the main campus on Essen Lane. Taking care of those employees in the weeks that have followed the disaster accounts for some of the additional cost of the flood.
“We responded like many employers did and gave resources to our team members—cash, cars, extra time,” Wester says.
The hospital also incurred significant costs from bringing in additional personnel and paying overtime. Some 700 employees slept at the hospital for a week while it was a code gray or lock down mode to respond to the disaster.
Additionally, four OLOL clinics in Baker, Central, and Livingston Parish sustained flood damage. All have since reopened in temporary facilities, but it will be months before the permanent facilities are repaired and back in business.
Finally, many elective procedures and physicians office visits—revenue generators for OLOL—were cancelled during and immediately after the flood. Even now, eight weeks later, some patients are still failing to show up for routine appointments.
“Every week it’s getting better,” Wester says. “But there are still a lot of no shows because people maybe can’t get here, they still may not have a vehicle or they’re too busy taking care of other things. It’s going to be a while before we really see the long-term effects of this.”
—Stephanie Riegel
