Page 7 - Ochsner Magazine

“We received wonderful care from the nurses and doctors

and everyone at Baptist. I had two more children there, Special

and two of my grandchildren were born there. So many
Deliveries
of my friends have had their children there, too.”

—OLIVIA MANNING

Ochsner Baptist: The Rebirth

of a Community Treasure

For nearly a century, couples have welcomed their newborn sons and daughters into the world
at Baptist Hospital. Families have gathered bedside at Baptist as loved ones have recovered from

illness or injury. And anxious parents have rushed their children to the emergency room to

heal a hurt.

Olivia Manning got to know Baptist well when her three boys—Cooper as well as her two

NFL quarterbacks, Peyton and Eli—were growing up. “With the boys’ roughhousing, we had

our share of trips to that Baptist emergency room,” she recalls, with a playful lilt. “I remember

Peyton having stitches for the second or third time, and he said, ‘I know the drill, mom.’ I asked

our pediatrician, ‘Do I need to have the whole house padded?’ Hospital stays can be a time of

concern, but our family’s experiences at Baptist were wonderful ones.”

Manning says she can hardly imagine New Orleans without the hospital that her family—and

so many others—have relied upon for decades. But in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina pummeled

New Orleans, Baptist was hit hard.

SURVIVING THE STORM
patients and their families—really showed

Hurricane Katrina looded Baptist’s base- what is best about New Orleans,” says Dawn

ment, where its generators were located, Anuszkiewicz, CEO of Ochsner Baptist, as

knocking out the hospital’s electricity. As the the facility is now known. “hey went above

violent winds blew windows out, the staf and beyond in a situation that no one could
navigated through darkened hallways with even comprehend, with the resources they

lashlights, tending to patients in incredibly had on hand, being innovative in taking care

challenging circumstances. “hey did yeo- of patients as the situation was changing

man’s work and are all heroes in my mind,” hour by hour.”
When the storm cleared, the future of the
says Kenneth E. Pickering, longtime Board
Chair of the hospital.
hospital was uncertain. Baptist was closed

“hose who were here—who sheltered
until Tenet Healthcare, which owned it,

Daymon Gardner
spring / summer 2014 7