House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and local elected officials joined St. Tammany Health System and Ochsner Health leaders on a tour showing the depth and breadth of high-quality care close to home on the Northshore.
St. Tammany Health System Board of Commissioners, the executive team and state Sen. Patrick McMath, state Rep. Mark Wright of Covington, Parish President Mike Cooper and Covington Mayor Mark Johnson joined the tour.
Acknowledging the work of STHS’s COVID team during the tour, Scalise vowed to put his legislative weight behind the health system’s community outreach initiatives. In addition to touring the COVID unit, Rep. Scalise visited the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, its new four-story patient tower and its New Family Center.
From there, he visited the health system’s new Be Well Bus, a 40-foot, mobile health clinic custom-designed to bring a variety of cancer screenings and other preventative health procedures directly into the community. Noting how important it is that people return to the regular health screenings they may have neglected during the pandemic, Rep. Scalise said he worked to include $1 million to help cover the cost of the bus and its programs in the latest federal appropriations bill, which recently cleared a key congressional committee but must yet be approved by the full House, Senate and President.
