Governor Promises Money for Upgrading Confederate

              Gov. Edwin W. Edwards took a top-to-bottom
tour of Confederate Memorial
Medical Center yesterday. H e r e he
stops to chat with a patient in the hall.
He also visited patients in hospital
rooms. Edwards promised state funds to
make the hospital a better place. (Times
Photo by John Moseley)
Governor Promises Monev
For Upgrading Confederate
By Margaret Martin
Times Medical Writer
Gov. Edwin W. E d w a r d s
promised y e s t e r d a y that
Confederate Memorial Medical
Center will get $4.5 million in
state funds for capital improve-ments
— including air condition-ing
— as soon as matching
federal funds become available.
The governor made the an-nouncement
at a press confer-ence
in the hospital board room
after a top - to - bottom tour of
the facility, the teaching hospi-tal
for Louisiana State Universi-ty
Medical School at Shreveport.
Edwards spent the day in
town. He addressed a noon
luncheon of the Louisiana Civil
Defense Association and paid
respects to the family of oilman
R. Sim Barnwell Jr., 54, who
died Saturday.
Also announced at the Ed-wards
press conference were:
1. Appointment of Shreveport
Mayor Calhoun Allen to the
domed stadium commission, "in
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keeping with my attitude to get
statewide flavor as much as
possible." The governor makes
only one appointment to the
commission.
2. Continued operation of the
outpatient clinic at The Pines
Sanatorium for tuberculosis pa-ients.
3. Use of one building at The
Pines for an Alcoholism Treat-ment
Center, plans for which
are included in a federal grant
application by the Northwest
Louisiana Organization for the
Treatment of Alcoholism. Coun-selors
will be supplied by the
State Department of Education
and the vocational-rehabilitation
agency.
In committing the $4.5 million
to Confederate, Edwards prom-ised
the board of directors all
the money they had requested
at an Aug. 31 meeting with him
in Baton Rouge.
Harold K. Quinn, chairman of
Confederate's board of direc-tors;
Dr. Edgar Galloway, hos-pital
administrator, and Robert
Hall, assistant administrator,
took the governor on the tour of
Confederate.
Edwards said he had wanted
to personally inspect the facility
although he had long been
aware of "the inadequacy and
(problems, a glaring example of
;he lack of planning and provid-ing
money for operating on a
year - to - year basis."
He said the $4.5 million in
funds must be provided to make
the hospital a totally function-ing
new medical center for this
particular area.
He pointed out, too, that the
facility is not only needed for
treatment of indigent patients
but also for training of doctors.
The board of directors esti-mates
that the hospital can be
upgraded for $12.8 million. This
would include air conditioning,
automatic elevators; renovation
of electrical service, exterior
repairs, replacing the roofing, a
new parking lot and alterations
and modifications to the build-ing.
Quinn has said that ineligible
patient funds as well as federal
matching funds can be used for
the upgrading.