Growing Acadia General

Acadia General Hospital Interim CEO Don Trexler blames the 10 pounds he’s gained in the past two months on his new home in southwest Louisiana.
“Boudin and cracklins are absolutely crazy good here,” he said as he joked about the changes in his diet since switching to Acadia General.
Trexler spoke to the Rotary Club of Crowley Tuesday.
New food loves aside, Trexler has made himself at home and wishes AGH’s parent company the best of luck removing him as CEO.
“Good luck getting rid of me,” he said. “I’m happy to be here.”
Before being put in a place of leadership at AGH, Trexler spent years heading a doctor-owned hospital in Hammond. He knew of AGH, then American Legion Hospital, and its issues.
And the changes in the two years between his last look at the American Legion and his step into leadership at Acadia General on March 1 were drastic.
“Everything looked drastically better,” he said.
The hospital is currently undergoing sprucing up externally – fresh paint, new windows – as well as internally – a new elevator and a new computer system. All in all, the investment Lafayette General is putting into Acadia General rings in the neighborhood of $5.8 million. For Trexler’s part, LGH is looking to him to make AGH more financially sound.
“Lafayette General’s commitment is unwaivered,” he said.
Part of that strategy was looking at everything, every aspect of the hospital, and working to improve it or even, in some cases, eliminate it.
“When I got there, Mr. (David) Callecod said, ‘It’s an open slate,’ ” said Trexler.
Baby delivery services will cease this weekend at the hospital. But, as those services end, new ones are being planned.
For some time now, Dr. Jimmy W. Skrasek has been delivering babies at Acadia General, but even he knew something wasn’t adding up in Crowley to make it a viable market for delivery.
Trexler walked through the decision with the Rotary Club. Speaking at length about the conversations he had with recent mothers that, though they were from this area, opted for Lafayette delivery, he pointed out that Lafayette just had more – specialists, a Newborn Intensive Care Unit, etc. In fact, “just in case” was one of the biggest answers he received from the new moms about why they went to Lafayette. Focusing on the subject more, Trexler then looked at how many new mothers were bringing their newborns and children to Lafayette for pediatric services as well as going to the city for prenatal care. The numbers all pointed to the Hub City and away from Crowley.
Now, though, Trexler feels they have a better plan, and a better commitment from Skrasek – a clinic for Acadia Parish-area mothers and mothers-to-be that will provide pre- and post-natal care, with delivery in Lafayette. The hospital is also working out plans with other doctors in the area that deliver babies. And, Trexler feels like the plan is better for Acadia Parish.
The focus is now turning toward what to do with the hospital space that was once occupied by OB services and what to do moving forward.
Then, there is the emergency room, which has become one of the hospital’s biggest success stories in turnaround. And not only are local people getting better service, but the hospital is even seeing increased traffic from places like Eunice and Jennings – cities with their own hospitals – a fact the hospital’s administration is ecstatic about.
“We’re seeing more, we’re seeing them and they’re happy about it,” said Trexler.
Now, about the space. Well, it does leave a lot to be desired, as he pointed out.
“If you haven’t seen it, it’s not a pretty space,” said Trexler. “So, we’re doing a lot of analysis on expansion.”
He added many compliments to the staff for doing so much with so little space – only six rooms.
“We know we need a better space,” he said. “We’ve gotten the services better, now we just need the space.”