Tagged: Department of Health and Hospitals

The new private operator of a St. Tammany Parish psychiatric hospital has hired about 125 of the 354 workers laid off by the state.

Friday was the last day of work for many employees of Southeast Louisiana Hospital, who were laid off when the state decided to privatize it, the Advocate reports.

Meridian Behavioral Health System takes over Wednesday.

It's not clear exactly how many people will be left without a job, because some state employees are retiring and a few others are transferring.

State investigators say one client of the Lafayette Association for Retarded Citizens developed a bowel obstruction and another developed an antibiotic-resistant staph infection because association employees did not administer medicine properly.

The Advertiser reports that the association had a Feb. 19 deadline for correcting problems found in December by the health standards section of the Department of Health and Hospitals.

It says neither DHH nor association Director Glenn Weber would comment on whether LARC met that deadline.

Effective at sunset Tuesday, oyster harvest areas 1-28 — from Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish to Vermillion Bay in Vermilion Parish — will be closed.

The state Department of Health and Hospitals announced the precautionary closure because Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to strengthen into a hurricane, could cause flooding in coastal parishes that would cause natural contaminants to be washed into rivers, bayous and streams and possibly into oyster-growing areas.

The areas will stay closed until such time as state health officials determine the waters are safe.

State health officials confirm three more people have died from West Nile virus, bringing the total to nine so far this year.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals also said Friday that 53 new human cases of the virus have been confirmed and mark 145 reported infections so far in 2012 — the highest number of cases the state has seen in the past several years.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says four new cases of West Nile virus bring this year's total to 14.

It says the new cases include the year's third nervous system infection — the infection's most dangerous form. That patient is in St. Tammany Parish; earlier neuroinvasive cases were reported in Rapides and Vernon parishes.

The other new cases were in Bossier and East and West Baton Rouge parishes. They include one patient with flu-like West Nile fever and two people without symptoms, found in blood donor screening.

Lawmakers want more details about $523 million in health care cuts made by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration. The reductions fall largely on the LSU-run public hospital system.

House Speaker Chuck Kleckley called a Thursday meeting of the House budget and health care committees for presentations from LSU officials and from Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein, who made the decisions on funding cuts.