Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center (OLOLRMC) is a general medical and surgical facility located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is a Catholic hospital member of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System (FMOLHS). The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and it serves as a teaching hospital to Our Lady of the Lake College, Louisiana State University, Tulane University and Southern University.

OLOLRMC is the dominant institution in health care in the Greater Baton Rouge area and the largest private medical center in Louisiana, with over 800 beds. In a given year, OLOLRMC treats approximately 25,000 patients in the hospital, and services about 350,000 persons through outpatient locations. It has a complement of almost 900 physicians and 3,000 staff members. The Lake also operates two nursing homes, has an affiliated cancer facility adjacent to the main hospital, and operates a number of outpatient services on its campus as well as in outlying locations.

History

In 1911, Mother de Bethanie Crowley and five Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady traveled to America to serve the sick and needy.^[1] Eight years after establishing a hospital in Monroe, Louisiana, Mother de Bethanie was invited to Baton Rouge by Monsignor Francis Leon Gassler of St. Joseph's Cathedral and a group of leading local physicians, to tour the downtown area in search of a suitable location for a hospital to serve the 22,000 residents of the small river town. Mother de Bethanie insisted on a patch across University Lake from the original Louisiana State University campus.

In November 1923, the four-story brick structure of Our Lady of the Lake Sanitarium opened its doors to the city. In April 1978, the original hospital was closed and a 460-bed facility on Essen Lane opened to better serve a population that had grown to the south and east of the original location. Throughout the years, the facilities have undergone expansion. There are current plans to build a free-standing Children's Hospital in a nearby area.

OLOLRMC is the only Catholic-sponsored hospital in Greater Baton Rouge area and the oldest unbroken ownership and affiliation of any area hospital (since 1923). It is aligned with three FMOLHS sister hospitals across Louisiana (Our Lady of Lourdes in Lafayette; St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe; St. Elizabeth Hospital in Gonzales).

Children’s Hospital

OLOL Children's Hospital is a hospital within a hospital that has 90 inpatient pediatric beds, including 60 medical/surgical, 14 Level 1 PICU beds and 10 Hematology/Oncology unit. It has in excess of 6,300 discharges annually and is rapidly becoming the largest pediatric provider in Louisiana. This is the only 24/7 pediatric emergency room department in the Baton Rouge area. OLOLRMC also has the only Certified Child Life Specialists department and Pediatric Sedation Service in the area. It has more than 150 Pediatricians and Family Practice doctors on staff. OLOLRMC is affiliated to Woman's Hospital for newborn and neonatal care. Pediatric Hematology-Oncology service is a St. Jude Children's Hospital affiliate. Since 2010, OLOLRMC is also home to the only pediatric residency program in the Baton Rouge area.

Clinical Services

OLOLRMC Cancer Center is Baton Rouge area’s only peripheral blood stem cell transplantation program, and only high-dose Interleukin II chemotherapy treatment center in Louisiana. Overall, more open-heart procedures than any other hospital in Louisiana are done at OLOLRMC. Likewise, more joint procedures than any other Louisiana hospital. It is the only hospital in Louisiana with a Nuclear Medicine department accredited by ICANL (Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories). OLOLRMC was the first hospital in the world to use an integrated radiology information system (RIS) and PACS to achieve a completely filmless environment.

References

External links

• Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System
• Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center
• Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital