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Regular Session, 2010 ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 113
BY SENATOR BROOME
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College to provide a written, detailed overview and
time line for the closure of the Earl K. Long Medical Center, including specifics
relative to the transfer of its medical education and inpatient hospital care to Our
Lady of the Lake Medical Center.
WHEREAS, the Earl K. Long Medical Center is a state-run, acute care medical
facility that serves East Baton Rouge Parish and the seven surrounding parishes within its
designated coverage area: Ascension, West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Iberville,
Livingston, and Pointe Coupee; and
WHEREAS, the Earl K. Long Medical Center's mission is to provide quality care to
residents in East Baton Rouge Parish and the surrounding parishes, regardless of their
financial status; and
WHEREAS, as a public hospital, the Earl K. Long Medical Center has maintained
the public's trust through competent care and service to the community; and
WHEREAS, the Earl K. Long Medical Center supports the community it serves
through health education and preventive services; and
WHEREAS, the Earl K. Long Medical Center serves as a teaching hospital for
physician education; and
WHEREAS, the Earl K. Long Medical Center's organizational philosophy and core
values are access, advocacy, respect, knowledge, excellence, and quality; and
WHEREAS, the cooperative endeavor to close Earl K. Long and move its graduate
medical teaching facilities and inpatient care to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical
Center was approved by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget on March 19, 2010;
and
WHEREAS, the closure of Earl K. Long Medical Center could increase the number
of uninsured and poor patients visiting other hospitals in the area without sufficient resources
to adequately compensate these hospitals for their care; and SR NO. 113 ENROLLED
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WHEREAS, the Earl K. Long Medical Center has served as a primary source of care
for generations of underprivileged people in the area who will be forced to search for
alternatives to the quality of care that the Earl K. Long Medical Center has provided over
the years; and
WHEREAS, many residents of East Baton Rouge Parish and the seven surrounding
parishes that the hospital serves have lingering questions concerning its closure, including
the time line of the closure, patient education about the transfer, continued quality of care
to indigent patients, transportation of patients to other hospitals, and the future employment
of current Earl K. Long Medical Center employees; and
WHEREAS, many of the residents in these parishes have expressed concern
regarding the equitable delivery of health care; and
WHEREAS, the surrounding community needs some assurance that the core
principles upon which the Earl K. Long Medical Center was founded will continue at Our
Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana that
the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical
College as part of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center should provide a
written, detailed overview and time line for the closure of the Earl K. Long Medical Center,
including specifics relative to the transfer of its medical education and inpatient hospital care
to Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center and including the cost of this collaborative to the
state of Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
chairman of the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and
Mechanical College.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE