Acadia General's Heather Harper addresses Crowley Lions Club

The improvements made during Heather Harper’s first year as CEO of Acadia General Hospital have been obvious and well-documented.
“I notice it as soon as I walk through the doors,” said Crowley Alderman Bryan Borill. “They used to not even greet you. And it’s the same thing throughout the building.”
Harper, a native of Arkansas, addressed the Crowley Lion’s Club during their Tuesday luncheon. She discussed the upgrades made at the hospital during her first year, how she has enjoyed becoming part of the Crowley social scene and her plans for the future of Acadia Parish’s second-leading employer.
“We have made significant improvements in our intensive care unit, our obstetrics department and outpatient surgery,” she said.
Harper stated that she was proud of some poll results and how much they rose over the past year.
“Our physician satisfaction rate rose from just under 50 percent to 100 percent,” she said. “I’m especially proud of that.”
The hospital also saw significant strides in patient satisfaction and hospital management.
However, Harper is definitely not one to rest on her laurels. And apparently, her next goal is to raise enough money to upgrade the notoriously small emergency room area.
“Our emergency room now is only 3,000 square feet,” she said. “With the upgrades we’d like to make, we could give Acadia Parish an emergency room where they could receive the treatment they need without having to drive to Lafayette and won’t have to deal with the waits that we are trying to remedy.”
After her arrival, Harper instituted a “Nurse First” program for the hospital, which means that those awaiting admission to the emergency room are first met by a nurse who determines the seriousness of their illness/injury. This has also helped to cut down on the number of people who will go to the emergency room for reasons that require no treatment, a tactic often used by people exhibiting “drug seeking behavior.”
Before the switch in management in June 2014, such visits constituted 18 percent of emergency room visits. That number is now down to 3 percent.
Harper has been visiting local organizations and prominent business leaders of Acadia Parish seeking support to help fund the construction of the new emergency room.
She is also hoping that area government bodies will consider helping with the project.
“This isn’t our hospital,” she said. “It belongs to the people of Acadia Parish.”