GREAT FALLS — After nearly a year and a half of construction, a new north tower for the Great Falls Hospital is ready for patients. The open house celebration included a ribbon cutting, a presentation from the Great Falls Clinic’s executive team and Healthgrade representatives, drinks, cake, and tours of the tower.
“We’re really excited that as we continue to grow our acute care facility, that now we’re gonna have the space to make that happen,” said Wayne Gillis, CEO of Great Falls Clinic.
The three-story tower includes a cardiac diagnostic and intervention suite, a 10-bed Intensive Care Unit, procedural space, and 18 new inpatient medical and surgical unit beds. The new beds double inpatient capacity from 18 to 36.
“We were at capacity almost on a daily basis,” said Bradley Weast, COO of Great Falls Hospital, “We had 18 beds, and our average daily census is 22.”
The hospital tower is phase one of a $58 million expansion to the hospital, announced on March 10, 2022. Phase two includes expanding the west wing of the hospital, which is expected to be completed in January of 2024.
“Our west wing, which is above the emergency department, we actually added two operating rooms,” Weast said. "So that took us from three to five, and we could actually in the future expand to seven… We also expanded our footprint from six to eight beds in the emergency department. Also, we're expanding our cafeteria and other locations, we added a new lab, we're expanding our pharmacy.”
Per the Great Falls Clinic’s website, the expansion will include a new high complexity laboratory, pharmacy space, expanded sterile processing, and two operating rooms. There is a third phase as well, which will include interior updates and renovations, but completion depends on the schedule of phase one and two.
“It's been exciting for us to have more demand than we could handle,” Gillis said, “We needed our beds, you know, two years ago. But we have them today.”
To learn more about the expansion, click here or call 406-216-8000.
The Great Falls Hospital is located at 3010 15the Avenue South.
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