A. The department may establish and administer geriatric hospitals or units to receive and care for persons who are elderly or infirm who have been discharged by a hospital for persons with mental illness and for other persons who are elderly or infirm who are in need of nursing and medical care. Such hospitals or units may be established on sites designated by the department in quarters constructed or designated by the department, provided that no such geriatric hospital or unit may be established on any site located more than five air miles from the administrative office of Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System or more than one air mile from the administrative office of Central Louisiana State Hospital.

            B. Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the department from establishing a geriatric hospital located in the present Ward 14 of Orleans Parish.

            C. Persons admitted to such geriatric hospitals or units or their responsible relatives shall pay the cost of their maintenance and care.

            D. The Villa Feliciana Medical Complex located at Jackson, Louisiana, shall be administered by the department.

            Acts 1977, No. 680, §71. Amended by Acts 1978, No. 786, §5, eff. July 17, 1978; Acts 1979, No. 763, §2; Acts 1987, No. 617, §2; Acts 1997, No. 641, §3; Acts 2014, No. 811, §22, eff. June 23, 2014; Acts 2017, No. 369, §4.