The Archdiocese of New Orleans Provides a Continuum of Care
By Susan Hanson, Notre Dame Hospice, Northshore LIVING WELL Magazine
Walter has lived all of his life in New Orleans. He is retired but active. He lives in the same house he has always lived in, the one where he and his wife raised four children. It is just down the street from the church he attended as a boy. He meets friends there for Mass and for coffee most mornings during the week. He has had many surgeries to repair damage to his knees. A complication arose during a recent surgery to increase mobility to his knee. Following surgery, he developed an infection at the surgical site and required skilled care along with his physical rehabilitation. This worried him. How could he get back and forth to the doctor’s office visits and physical therapy appointments? With his condition, he could no longer drive. His wife had passed away several years ago. What was he to do?
This scenario plays out daily in area hospitals. Patients are ready to leave the hospital, but still require a higher level of care. Walter has options. He can choose to elect his Medicare Part A benefit and stay in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) and receive nursing care, wound therapy, IV antibiotics and physical therapy all while staying close to home. After his therapy is through and he is determined to be strong enough to resume his normal activities, he can return home.
There are two such facilities in the New Orleans area: Chateau de Notre Dame and Wynhoven Healthcare Center. Chateau de Notre Dame and Wynhoven Healthcare Center are nonprofit ministries of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and offer long-term care and skilled nursing services to individuals of all denominations.
Chateau de Notre Dame was founded in 1977 by then Archbishop Philip M. Hannan as a community of independent and assisted living apartments along with a nursing home. Chateau de Notre Dame has 171 skilled nursing beds and 100 independent and assisted living apartments. One unique aspect of offering services ranging from independent and assisted living to nursing care to custodial care is that a resident can come to Chateau and remain there if necessary as his or her individual needs change. Chateau de Notre Dame provides a continuum of compassionate, quality and affordable care that meets the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of each senior resident from independent living to nursing home skilled care.
Wynhoven Healthcare Center opened in 1987 and was originally operated by the Holy Cross Sisters. Monsignor Wynhoven developed the vision of the center to meet the needs of the elderly on the Westbank of Jefferson Parish. Wynhoven Healthcare Center provides skilled nursing care and short-term rehabilitation to custodial care. Like Chateau, residents at Wynhoven can receive rehabilitation therapies such as physical, occupational and speech therapies, IV therapy, and advanced wound care. Wynhoven has 180 beds and a compassionate, professional and dedicated staff to provide optimum care for its residents. With its close proximity to West Jefferson Medical Center, it is a convenient choice for many Westbank residents.
Another aspect of life’s journey where the Archdiocese saw a way to assist the area’s residents is end of life care. As part of the desire to provide a true continuum of care, the Archdiocese of New Orleans developed Notre Dame Hospice in December of 2010. Hospice care is comfort care provided to individuals diagnosed with a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less. Notre Dame Hospice provides hospice care wherever a person calls home such as a private residence, an assisted living facility or a nursing home. Notre Dame Hospice is able to provide in-patient hospice care in Chateau and Wynhoven. According to Wayne Plaisance, CEO of Chateau de Notre Dame, Wynhoven Healthcare Center and Notre Dame Hospice,“This is the journey of life, and we as Church should be there to assist people through that journey of life. This is such a good fit for us. It is rare that you see a hospice provider handling all levels of care.”
Tours of each facility are available on a daily basis. For more information, please call Chateau de Notre Dame at 504- 866-2741, Wynhoven Healthcare Center at 504-347-0777 or Notre Dame Hospice at 985-847-0174.
