A milestone on the prairie

By: TONY MARKS
Associate Editor

A ribbon cutting was held Thursday as Savoy Medical Center celebrated the 25th Anniversary and Grand Re-Opening of its drug rehabilitation and psychiatric unit New Horizons.
“The community of Mamou and some of the surrounding areas were recently affected by flooding , and our unit New Horizons was among those affected,” said Savoy’s Public Relations Manager Jackie Riche’ in her opening remarks. “We really like to thank the staff for all their hard work and dedication to Savoy Medical Center, to their job, and to their patients that they help everyday.”
“Through this tragedy we did realize it’s been 25 years that New Horizons has been opened,” she continued. “We wanted to celebrate that, and when we decided on the date we realized it was Dr. Frank Savoy, Jr., day in Mamou. He was honored with a proclamation in 2005 in his honor for all of his hard work, dedication, and accomplishments.”
Fr. David Hebert, the pastor of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Basile, said, “It’s an honor to be here, and I’m very happy to come and be a part of this celebration.”
He previously served the hospital as its business manager and went on to say “it’s wonderful to see the healing ministry continue and grow in Mamou.”
“Let us ask God for His blessings on all these patients here and those who devote themselves to caring for the sick,” he said as part of his blessing. “Let us ask also for the divine blessing on this building erected for the care of the sick.”
The Vice President of Operations for Christus St. Frances Cabrini Sherman Fookes echoed much of what Riche’ stated and complimented the staff on its teamwork. “Everybody showed up and did their part,” he said. “I don’t think flood cleanup is in anybody’s job description over here, but they did a fantastic job.”
He then went on to describe the importance of New Horizons for not just the hospital and the staff but also for the patients. “I don’t think there’s a better way to show that than about four days after New Horizons opened back up, there was about 30 people being taken care of,” he said. “That just lets you know what a great asset this is to the community. There’s no better place to heal than where your community is.”
“We have been through this flood before, so it wasn’t a new thing for us,” said Director of Nursing Janet Armand. “This time we knew what we were up against, so we took the time to actually do extra stuff. When we did it came out a lot better, but we did it in less time because we knew what we were doing.”
“I cannot stress enough how much this team came together,” she added. “We turned a six month job into a 30 day job because we have a lot of talent on our staff.”
Before the ribbon cutting occurred, Chief Nursing Officer Laurie Manuel thanked the mayor and the town who were “instrumental in helping us get back on our feet again.”