Baton Rouge General Announces New Initiatives at Mid City, Celebrates One Year Reopening

BATON ROUGE, La. – Today, Baton Rouge General (BRG) celebrates the one-year anniversary of re-opening the acute care part of its Mid City hospital. While reflecting on the lives saved and patients treated over the past year, BRG announced new initiatives that will continue to build on Mid City’s resurgence.

“Today we’re celebrating one year since we reopened acute care at Mid City, and I’m proud of all that our team has accomplished here,” said Edgardo Tenreiro, CEO of Baton Rouge General. “We’ve since been able to re-open the emergency room, helping close a gap in access to care, and are re-investing back into the campus in a big way.”

In 2020, over 26,000 patients were treated at BRG’s Mid City campus, an increase of 33% from 2019. In addition to caring for patients with COVID, the team at Mid City treated patients at primary care visits, radiation oncology, rehab, and imaging, among many other services.

“With more people coming through our doors here, a new vision started to unfold,” said Trisha Guidry, chief operating officer at Mid City. “We’re excited about the plans to give our campus a major facelift and feel confident that we will continue to be a beacon of hope for the Mid City community.”

Plans for a new front entrance of the hospital will add green space and make the hospital even more a part of the community. Plans include removing the fence and staff parking lot facing Florida Boulevard, opening up a large park-like space with a plaza and seating. The new area could also be host to future events like BRG’s Pop-up Pink Pumpkin Patch, screening events and Holiday Lights display, as well as other community-driven events in Mid City. In a collaboration with The Walls Project, BRG has also commissioned an 800-square-foot mural for the side of the hospital. Work is set to begin soon, with an anticipated June completion date.

Through its long-standing involvement with Mid City Redevelopment Alliance, BRG has helped improve the infrastructure and quality of place in the Mid City area. A strong quality of place means a better environment for patients and an overall healthier neighborhood.

Also part of the one-year anniversary is the announcement of a new initiative from the Baton Rouge General Foundation that addresses health inequity and barriers to care among the hospital’s patient base at Mid City. The CARE Initiative (Community, Access, Resources, and Education) tackles some of the most common issues keeping patients from achieving full health, including transportation, medical equipment, and food insecurity. Many patients struggle to even get to the hospital for radiation or other important visits, and 20% of those who leave our skilled nursing unit need an at-home ramp but can’t afford one. After a short application and CARE committee review, patients can be granted up to $500 in assistance.

BRG has cultivated relationships with community partners that may be connected with patients depending on their needs. For example, Rebuilding Together Baton Rouge is on tap to help with installing wheelchair ramps, and Top Box to help with the proper nutrition to supplement a patient’s treatment. The initiative also means growing existing partnerships with Yellow Cab, Uber and Lyft, which the hospital uses currently to provide free transportation for Pennington Cancer Center patients.

“Mid City’s impact on our community over the past year confirmed what we knew -- there was a gap in access to care in the zip codes surrounding Mid City,” said Erik Showalter, president of the BRG Foundation. “And COVID has made access to care, along with other disparities, even clearer. Through our new CARE Initiative we plan to help close some of those gaps, but there’s still much work to be done, and we look forward to helping lead the way.

On March 30, 2020, Baton Rouge General announced an agreement with the state to make its Mid City campus a key part of the community’s COVID-19 surge plan. With existing units not being used to their full capacity, re-opening acute care beds there was a way to care for COVID patients who weren’t able to get care elsewhere and to take pressure off other area hospitals as the surge of patients continued to grow.

Within days after the announcement, ICU beds were up and running, and patients were being admitted. Recruiting hit a feverish pitch, as more beds means more staff needed. The hospital recruited clinicians who were retired or who had been working in clinics or surgery centers that had closed or reduced operations. In just a month, BRG hired over 100 new team members.

For more information, visit BRGmidcity.com.

About Baton Rouge General Medical Center
Baton Rouge General Medical Center is the area’s first community hospital with over 600 licensed beds between three campuses. Baton Rouge General opened its doors in 1900, and has provided the Greater Baton Rouge community with high-quality healthcare for generations. An accredited teaching hospital since 1991, Baton Rouge General is affiliated with several medical school programs, and offers other medical education programs, including a School of Nursing, School of Radiologic Technology, Family Medicine Residency Program, Internal Medicine Residency Program, and Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. For more information, visit BRGeneral.org, find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/BatonRougeGeneral and follow us on Twitter @BRGeneral and Instagram @batonrougegeneral.

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