Madison Parish Hospital Interim CEO Dr. Donald Perry was in attendance for the Madison Parish Police Jury's regular meeting Monday, where he gave jurors a brief update on the ongoing construction of the new hospital facility in Tallulah.
Perry said several factors have contributed to delays in the months since ground was broken on the new hospital and rural health clinic in September of 2020.
"The hospital should have been completed about six months ago," Perry told jurors. "So, we are running behind schedule. What has happened over the past year, there were a lot of problems with getting equipment in and materials."
Perry said the shortage in the supply chain across the country over the last year has been only one of the issues facing the new hospital's initial timetable for completion.
"Getting special, what they call automatic transfer to help get generators for the hospital in place. There have been a lot of intricate parts that have been delayed," Perry said of parts needed for generators meant to help maintain power during the 24-hour timetable in which the hospital will transition vital equipment from the old into the new building. "Now, some of those things are coming in. We have met with some of the architects and the contractors. The last meeting, we just found out last Friday, they found the automatic transfer switches just came in on the eleventh and we hope to get those switches in sometime this week."
Perry said the process of installing that equipment alone would likely take an additional two-to-three weeks.
"The big questions is how much longer do we expect for the completion of the hospital." Perry said. "Well, there are some other things that are intricately involved with the punch list. And with the punch list, they have to go in and look at all the different things that are not up to par, up to standards. And those things could take about another three weeks."
Perry said he recently spoke with the hospital's maintenance director, who told him completion of the new health clinic could come as early as mid-February.
"The hospital itself still may not be completed, so we are looking at another quarter of next year," Perry added. "If the weather isn't bad. But, thank God we are mostly working inside now. We hope to see good results in the next two-and-a-half months."
