We interrupt your holiday fruitcake to bring you this important message: Happy 2023! 

We know, we know. It’s still a couple of days away. But now that the urge to hibernate during that recent cold snap has passed, we at St. Tammany Health System are eager to flip the calendar and get 2023 underway.  

That’s not to suggest we’ve got a quarrel with 2022. Quite the opposite. This past year was a big one for St. Tammany Health System. In fact, our continued growth to meet the needs of our community earned us a spot in The Times-Picayune’s year-end list of the Top 10 St. Tammany stories of the year.  

(We’re right there at No. 5, sandwiched between the ongoing drama surrounding the parish’s housing moratorium and the school system’s efforts to hold onto its teachers.)  

But as rewarding as it can be to revel in past accomplishments, we’re more of a mind to look forward to the future and prepare for what tomorrow will bring.  

As author C.S. Lewis said, “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”  

In that spirit, we have a feeling 2023 will be a year to remember for St. Tammany Health System. We’ve got our $75 million Ambulatory Surgery Center to complete, a new Graduate Medical Education program to shepherd, a special upcoming announcement regarding our cancer center, the strategically planned growth of a number of our service lines – and all that’s just for starters. 

Honestly, we can’t wait to get going. So, here we go, together, to serve you, our friends and neighbors, for another year. 

Thanks, as always, for coming along with us on this journey. 

St. Tammany Health System in October became the first in South Louisiana to conduct Velys robotic-assisted knee replacement, an innovative, second-generation procedure designed to get patients back on their feet sooner, with less discomfort and more mobility. 

Dr. Mark Hontas, an orthopedic surgeon with St. Tammany Health System’s Bone & Joint Clinic, has used the Velys system exclusively since fall 2022. So far, he said the technologically advanced system compares favorably to other knee-replacement systems. 

“I’ll tell you what, I am impressed with the immediate post-op patient experience,” Dr. Hontas said. “They seem to have a wonderful range of motion.”  

Team players

After teaming with St. Tammany Hospital Foundation last October for a celebrity waiter event benefiting St. Tammany Cancer Center, a campus of Ochsner Medical Center, a team of former NFL players is already game-planning for a repeat event to coincide with the NFL Draft in April. 

Targeting cervical cancer    

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month, and to mark the occasion STHS Community Outreach Coordinator Anne Pablovich visited The Lake 94.7-FM to discuss the importance of early detection as well as a new program offering free Pap smears to uninsured women. 

Best 100 Hospitals

Women’s Choice Award has once again ranked St. Tammany Health System’s flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital among the Best 100 Hospitals for Patient Experience for 2023. In addition, the Covington-based health system was singled out for distinction in nine areas.   

Spirit of the season 

The spirit of the season was alive and well at St. Tammany Health System this past Christmas, with the donation by health system colleagues of nine car loads of wrapped Christmas presents for Northshore families in need.