St. Charles Parish Hospital needs an ally, council told

St. Charles Parish Hospital administrator Federico Martinez said during a recent meeting that the 59-bed hospital needs to find a partner because it simply isn't big enough to thrive in today's healthcare marketplace. The publicly owned St. Charles Parish Hospital is exploring a partnership with the Ochsner Health System, which will start out as an informal working relationship and could evolve into Ochsner's lease of the hospital. Under the current agreement, Ochsner physicians will be able to practice at the hospital.