Convenience, Quality, Expertise Touted at North Oaks Clinic Building Grand Opening

North Oaks Clinic Building ribbon cutting participants included: (first row, from left) North Oaks Board of Commissioners Member Dr. Ann Carruth; Ponchatoula Mayor Bob Zabbia (retired North Oaks Board of Commissioners member); Hammond Mayor Mayson Foster; North Oaks Board of Commissioners members Blake Daniels, A.J. Bodker (Vice Chairman), Guy Recotta Jr. (Chairman); Internist Jay Kumar, MD; Orthopaedic Surgeon Bryan Dudoussat, MD; Internists Charles Ducombs, MD, Susan Zacharia, MD, and William Plunkett, MD; (second row, from left) ENT & Sinus Specialist Jeffrey LaCour, MD; Orthopaedic Surgeon Brian Ladner, MD; North Oaks Medical Center Chief of Staff Jason Reina, MD; ENT & Allergy Specialist Jacques Peltier, MD; Psychiatrist Michelle Barnum, MD; North Oaks Senior Vice President of Operations Michael Watkins, Assistant Vice President of the Physician Group Sarah Mitchell, Operations Decision Support Analyst Marquette Pegler, President/CEO James E. Cathey Jr.; OB/GYN Jeremy Irwin, MD; Hammond Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Charlotte Banks; and OB/GYNs Marya Porter,MD, and Deborah Shuman, MD.

[Hammond, LA.]—The North Oaks Health System Board of Commissioners, Administration and Staff hosted a grand opening on Jan. 26 for a new Clinic Building that represents a $15 million community investment.

The 4-story, 82,000-square-foot building is located at 15813 Paul Vega, MD, Drive adjacent to the Diagnostic Center on the North Oaks Medical Center campus in Hammond. The building was designed by WHLC Architecture and constructed by The Lemoine Company, both of Baton Rouge, with a focus on convenience, quality and expertise. The layout supports care coordination among an exceptional team of physicians and convenient access to advanced diagnostic testing and imaging services when needed.

“As a hospital service district, North Oaks reinvests every penny we make into expanding or improving the health care services we offer,” explains North Oaks Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer Michele Sutton, FACHE. “The opening of the North Oaks Clinic Building and the physicians who staff it are another demonstration of our commitment to providing our region with the medical expertise that our patients deserve.”

The grand opening celebration culminates 3 years of work to bring the project from concept to completion during the same timeframe that North Oaks launched an aggressive recruitment plan to grow the Medical Staff from 190 to 400 physicians by 2021.

More than 20 physicians currently or will soon practice in the new facility, including: Drs. Bryan Dudoussat, J. Gregory Kinnett, Brian Ladner and Judson Penton of North Oaks Orthopaedic Specialty Center; Drs. Jaime Edwards, Jeremy Irwin, Marya Porter, Deborah Shuman and Thuc Tran of Magnolia Obstetrics & Gynecology; Dr. Arvind Yertha of North Oaks Pulmonology; Drs. Albert Diket, Mark Newman, Marshall St. Amant, Charles Steadman and Ted Veillon of North Oaks Perinatology Clinic; Drs. Charles Ducombs, Jay Kumar, William Plunkett and Susan Zacharia of Northshore Internal Medicine Associates; Drs. Jeffrey LaCour and Jacques Peltier of North Oaks ENT & Allergy Clinic; Dr. Carl Gauthier of North Oaks Rheumatology Clinic; and Dr. Patricio Espinosa of North Oaks Neurology. Other clinics and physicians opening or relocating to the new building in the near future are: Dr. Michelle Barnum of New Leaf Psychiatry & Counseling Center, Dr. David Masel of North Oaks Neurosurgery Clinic, and Dr. Ellsworth Jack Remson of North Oaks Physiatry Clinic.

And there is space to spare. “We did not just build for today. We have the opportunity to accommodate additional physicians in the facility before it is totally occupied,” affirms Sutton.

The event kicked off with a ribbon cutting program in the building’s first floor lobby hosted by Sutton. Dr. Rodney Taylor, pastor of Natalbany Baptist Church offered the invocation. Megan Baiamonte, Christopher and Courtney Beach, Kaitlyn Loyd and Zachary Trahan of the Hammond High Magnet School U.S. Army Junior ROTC, under the direction of First Sgt. Warner Gale, carried out the Presentation of Colors and Pledge of Allegiance. Rev. Samuel Brown, senior pastor of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church and Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Hammond, led the benediction. Program remarks were offered by North Oaks Board of Commissioners Chairman Guy Recotta Jr. and President/CEO James E. Cathey Jr.

“The opening of this facility puts us a step closer to building the network that we envision to better meet the health care needs of this region, so stand by—there is more to come,” states Guy Recotta Jr., Chairman of North Oaks Board of Commissioners.

North Oaks President/CEO James E. Cathey Jr. concurs, “We feel very strongly that it is our responsibility to provide our region with the highest quality care possible in the most coordinated patient care environment available.”

Following the ribbon cutting, guests enjoyed tours of the new building, a complimentary health fair next door in the Diagnostic Center, as well as refreshments and door prize drawings. Health fair screenings included blood pressure checks, carpal tunnel evaluations, as well as pulmonary function and pulse oximetry testing. Demos of robotic surgery technology and the use of deep brain stimulation to control tremors and symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder were provided, along with information to build awareness of the warning signs of stroke and appropriate response.

For more information about the new North Oaks Clinic Building or North Oaks Physician Group, call (985) 230-7850.