Slidell Memorial Hospital

BUILDING THE BRIDGE FROM COMMUNITY TO CARE

Holly Sanchez, the chief administrative officer at Slidell Memorial Hospital, has a knack for translating complex and technical ideas. That ability made her the perfect person to guide the rollout of the hospital’s new cancer clinic and surgical services expansion project.

“I like to be that interim person, to learn what the needs are, what the challenges are, and help them through it,” she said. “I had experience as an IT professional connecting with doctors, nurses, and other clinicians and finance people through the rollout of information technology over the years. It was very rewarding to expand my role collaborating with the community. We pulled in all their ideas.”

Sanchez and Slidell Memorial Hospital CEO Sandy Badinger attended 47 community meetings to gather input on the development of the hospital’s new Comprehensive Cancer Care Clinic and forthcoming Surgical Services and Patient Care Tower.

“We talked about what we were intend- ing to build, what our goals were, and why we wanted this new space. We took criticism against our design. We took all that very much to heart and redesigned it at least once or twice,” Sanchez said.

Community input on the project was a top priority. “The construction project is funded in part through a tax millage. Part of what we’re using that money for is to build this Comprehensive Cancer Care Clinic. That is what the citizens wanted –to keep cancer care local,” Sanchez said.

The Comprehensive Cancer Care Clinic has four specially designed consult-exam rooms including a comfortable space for patients and a medical exam space.

“We have three different specialties visiting that patient in a single visit. Traditionally, the patient goes to each provider. This brings the providers to the patient in one visit. The patient will walk away with all the information they need to make a decision [about treatment]. We expect this to speed the process from a four- to six-week window to one week to 10 days from diagnosis to beginning treatment,” Sanchez said.

The Comprehensive Cancer Care Clinic will begin seeing patients in January.

“We have already secured a surgeon who can do complete breast cancer reconstruction. Patients diagnosed in our facility used to go to the Southshore for the reconstruction piece. Now we will keep that reconstruction local right here on-site at Slidell Memorial,” Sanchez said. “This is only the beginning. Breast cancer is what drove us to do this, but we’re moving on to additional cancers we plan to care for in that space.”

The Surgical Services and Patient Care Tower, set to open in 2024, will include seven operating suites and 12 ICU rooms outfitted with updated patient care technology. Additionally, an entire floor of 26 private patient rooms will be equipped with telemetry monitoring for the care of cardiac patients.

“When we asked our community what they needed from their community hospital, they asked how we would address another airborne virus, such as COVID.” Sanchez said. “Our solution is this new unit, which is very unique in that it can be switched to 100 percent negative pressure, which aids in the care of these types of illnesses.”

Sanchez said the new operating rooms will allow for more complex surgeries close to home, including the growth of neurosurgery and heart and lung surgical programs.

“We will continue to offer higher levels of care here in Eastern St. Tammany Parish,” Sanchez said. “Our goal is to keep care local so citizens can get care from their community hospitals. I would say it’s just the beginning. I am honored to be chosen to lead these projects.”

Slidell Memorial Hospital, 1001 Gause Boulevard, Slidell, LA 70458 (985) 280-2200, SlidellMemorial.org