St. Martin Parish residents will vote next month on a property tax that would be used to expand St. Martin Hospital, the only hospital in the parish.

 “We need to have accessibility for health care in the rural communities,” says Karen Wyble, CEO of the hospital.

Wyble says as the community grows there is an increased need for advanced health care.

“This whole millage and bond issuance that we are looking at for the expansion is at the request of the communities in their community health needs assessment.”

The St. Martin Parish Council has approved the request for the 14.5 million dollar bond to be added to March ballot.

That millage would help St. Martin Hospital expand into the 45 acres of land that’s right next-door to the hospital’s original building.

In addition to the tax revenue, the hospital board has pledged to pay $250,000 per year from hospital lease revenues toward the cost of bond retirement.

“Our goal is to ensure that our rural communities have accessibility to healthcare. We don’t want to take healthcare away from the rural communities,” says Wyble.

According to Wyble the leading cause of death in St. Martin Parish is heart disease.

She says,“This expansion is going to allow for us to build a Cath Lab. So we can do procedures here, cardiac procedures here. As well as an OR operating suite.”

24 new inpatient rooms, more outpatient services, and more subspecialty doctors would be part of the expansion as well.

“These physicians are asking to come here to the rural Community which was a change from just a few years back and so we are very excited about that,” says Wyble.

The proposal will be on the March 24 ballot.