Recycling Moosa Hospital
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Debris from the dismantling of Moosa Memorial Hospital building is scheduled to be reused in a variety of ways, according to St. Landry Parish president Jessie Bellard.
Bellard says the portion of the building now being demolished by parish work crews actually represents a recycling effort that intends to reclaim nearly all of the material that is being extracted from the 69-year-old former facility.
Members of the Solid Waste Commission received a Moosa project update Monday afternoon from Bellard, who is using parish road crew workers and trustees on the estimated $30,000 project which Bellard estimates is about 25 percent complete.
The concrete portion of the former hospital that is being torn down will continue to be transported to parish property where Bellard said the material will eventually be machine crushed and then utilized as road repairs and material for revitalizing gravel roads.
“We have a lot of roads in the parish right now that are in need of repair. What we plan to do with the concrete is break it up and then put it down where it can be used to help fortify our roads,” Bellard said during a Monday interview.
The demolition crews Bellard said, are finding an abundance of metal inside the building.
That discovery has enabled Bellard to devise a plan for repurposing what metal the crews extract as the project progresses.
“We are going to sell all the metal that we find as scrap metal. We’ve already sold 17,320 pounds in Lafayette for one thousand and thirty-nine dollars,” Bellard added.
Recently a metal scrap yard opened in Eunice and Bellard said the remainder of the metal salvaged from the hospital will now be brought to that business.
“We want to help out the local people as much as possible and we are saving the parish money by using our own workers. We are not hiring any outside contractors for the job in order to save money. All of the work we are doing ourselves,” Bellard said.
Before any work was initiated on the building which has been vacant since 2006, the former facility underwent asbestos mitigation and removal procedures after receiving an inspection and approval from the State Department of Environmental Quality.
Once the building is torn down, Bellard said, the parish intends to sell the property.
There are other buildings which were once part of the Moosa hospital complex that are not included in the demolition project. Those buildings will be eligible to be rented or sold as office space, Bellard noted.
Bellard told Commission members that the project has been proceeding well.
“Everyone is working together on this. We have always enjoyed our relationship (with the Commission) and we appreciate the association that we have had with you,” said Bellard.
