Ochsner Health history

1943;78:67–74. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]Schales O. President's address.

On January 15, 1944, the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation was chartered.

In 1953, the ever-increasing staff numbered 67 full time specialists, 13 consultants, and 50 graduate physicians in specialty training.

On June 12, 1954, Ochsner Foundation Hospital officially moved from Camp Plauche to its current flagship campus on Jefferson Highway.

He is well known for his scientific and professional attainments.” He was also a founding member of the association's journal, the Journal of Clinical Chemistry, in 1955. (6)

The first research building (later named the Richard W. Freeman Research Building) opened on the hospital’s campus in 1959.

Doctor Riddick joined Ochsner in 1961 and was a physician who spent his entire professional career here.

Ochsner's new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) opened in April 1972 and contained an infant cubicle.

Doctor Edgar Burns (at left) passed away on August 27, 1973 at the age of 78.

Doctor Frohlich joined Ochsner in 1976 as the Director of the Division of Research.

Since 1978, Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center has been caring for the underserved in the region.

The institution mourned the deaths of Doctor Alton Ochsner who passed away on September 24, 1981 and Doctor Guy Caldwell who passed away on November 1, 1981.

Doctor Curtis Tyrone passed away on July 13, 1982.

In 1983, Ochsner joined the Community Clinical Oncology Program sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and represents the largest clinical trials network in Louisiana today.

After a brilliant and rewarding career, Doctor Segaloff died in February 1985.

In 1986, Ochsner medical institutions with more than 4,000 hospital, clinic, hotel and research center employees, rank as the second-highest employers in Jefferson Parish (after Avondale Shipyards).

In 1989, in just two and a half years, Ochsner Clinic of Baton Rouge has become the largest group medical practice serving the Baton Rouge region with almost fifty physicians offering care in more than two dozen specialties and subspecialties.

In 1991, building expansion of OMC- Jefferson Highway began with construction of over 600,000 square feet of new buildings and renovation of one million square feet of space.

In 1992, Ochsner celebrated its 50th anniversary.

In 1993, Ochsner surgeons performed a double lung transplant on the youngest person in United States history, and today Ochsner remains the only lung transplant program in Louisiana.

In 2000, Alton's son, Doctor John Ochsner, would receive the same award.

On August 31, 2001, the clinic and the foundation agreed to consolidate into a single organization, the not-for-profit Ochsner Clinic Foundation, later designated the Ochsner Health System, with Doctor Patrick Quinlan as chief executive officer and a unified board from the predecessor organizations.

By the end of 2006, with the post-Katrina acquisitions of hospitals in Uptown New Orleans, in Kenner and on the West Bank, Ochsner Health System had grown to include seven hospitals, 21 health centers and eight specialized centers across South Louisiana.

The median wait time in 2007 for liver transplants at Ochsner was just 35 days, compared to approximately 575 days nationally.

The research program developed 550 new treatment protocols in 2008.

In 2009, Ochsner began utilizing a telestroke service to improve stroke care in rural and urban areas throughout Louisiana.

Ochsner created the Haitian Relief Fund in January 2010 as a response to the devastating earthquake that occurred in Haiti on Jan.

Beginning in January 2013, the CHOP afterschool program (Cooking-up Healthy Options and Portions) was implemented in two Jefferson Parish middle schools by Ochsner Health System as part of its “Change the Kids, Change the Future” program and through a grant from the Humana Foundation.

In 2014, OHS completed the rollout by deploying Epic at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center and upgrading the entire system to the newest, most efficient version of the software.

In June of 2021, a significant Gulf Coast expansion was announced.