Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Awards $1.2 Million Planning Grant to MCL Foundation for New Orleans Hospital

Baton Rouge (June 14, 2007) - The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded the Medical Center of Louisiana Foundation (MCLF) a $1,242,384 grant to help plan construction of the new LSU hospital in New Orleans.

"The grant will allow us to engage facility-planning experts to incorporate the most effective evidence-based, hospital-design principles into the construction," said Dr. Michael K. Butler, acting CEO of the LSU Health Care Services Division. "This will permit our medical professionals to provide the best health care available to the people we serve."

Evidenced-based hospital design uses proven architectural methods for improving patient outcomes, safety, and satisfaction and promotes staff retention and service efficiency. It makes the physical environment of a hospital much less stressful for the patient, the patient's family, and hospital staff.

The MCLF will partner on the project with the Georgia Tech College of Architecture Center for Health Care Design, which is headed by Dr. Craig Zimring, one of the foremost evidence-based hospital architects in the world.

Craig Zimring, Ph.D. - Environmental Psychologist and Professor of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Click photograph to visit his website.

"Our goal is to implement optimal design for the best patient outcome," Dr. Butler said. "This grant will allow us to develop a superior hospital environment based on evidence-based best practices in health care."

The grant period is from June 1, 2007, through May 31, 2009.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change

For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves.

The LSU Health Care Services Division is the fifth largest public hospital system in the country and is the medical provider for almost 20% of Louisiana's population. It has over 60,000 admissions, 350,000 patient days, 1 million outpatient visits, and over 350,000 emergency department visits.

Each year 1700 residents from the LSU School of Medicine, Tulane School of Medicine, and Ochsner Health System and 4,000 nurses and allied health students from many colleges and universities are trained in LSU HCSD facilities.

LSU HCSD is the largest single provider of uncompensated inpatient care in Louisiana and provides over 95% of the health care for Louisiana's prisoners. LSU hospitals have an economic impact of over $1.6 billion in asset business activity and $918 million in personal earnings and support over 10,000 jobs.

For more information, contact Marvin McGraw, Director of Communications and Media Relations, LSU Health Care Services Division, 225.922.1424 or mmcgra@lsuhsc.edu.