New CSKT Health Center opens in May

The building, located just west of Third Ave. N.W. in Ronan, will provide full-service primary care, urgent care, a dedicated area for infectious patients, an infusion center, behavioral health services, and a pharmacy. Construction on a second phase, which will include physical therapy services and a community fitness center, gets underway in late May with an anticipated opening in early 2024.

Tribal members “are really excited to have full-service healthcare available here,” said Patti Hibbeler, director of tribal member services, in a recent interview. She noted that Ronan has the largest population of tribal members on the Flathead Reservation and is home to many CSKT businesses and employees.

When Ronan’s original clinic was demolished for highway construction in 2021, it was replaced by a smaller, temporary clinic that provided limited primary care to tribal elders. Other tribal members had to travel to Polson and St. Ignatius for health services. Accessing health care was further complicated by a lack of public transportation and limited capacity at the two larger clinics.

While the Tribes received compensation to build a new clinic as part of the expansion of Hwy. 93, the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays and significant cost increases, forcing CSKT to scale back on the project and reduce both square footage and health services.

Due to increased building costs, “we had to take phase two off the table,” Hibbeler said.

Construction of phase one began about two years ago but was hampered by a shortage of materials. “Sourcing with construction has been difficult across the country and has really extended time on every build – and this is certainly no exception,” she said.

With phase one finally on the verge of opening, a financial collaboration has allowed the Tribes to pursue phase two – construction of the physical therapy and community fitness center on the west side of the new clinic. Thanks to funding through the federal New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) program, that part of the project now has a green light.

Once completed, the entire health center will occupy 18,000-square feet, 12,000 in the original structure and 6,000 in the addition, and will cost an estimated $10.3 million. Financing for the final phase came together through a partnership between CSKT, U.S. Bank and community development lender MoFi.

Hibbeler says a central focus of the new clinic is services for mothers and children. For example, she says, Tribal Health data shows that a significant number of youth experience breathing problems or asthma. The spacious clinic can accommodate a monthly asthma clinic and other preventative health offerings.

The infusion center will enable Tribal Health to offer treatments for some kinds of cancer or blood conditions so patients won’t need to travel to Kalispell or Missoula for care.

Tribal Health will also look at ways to partner with larger organizations such as Providence and Logan Health to bring more specialty clinics to Ronan. “It really allows us to think differently about how we can partner with expertise by bringing it in rather than building it within our own system, which allows us to really focus on economies of scale,” Hibbeler said.

The health center will also continue to work closely with local healthcare providers, including St. Luke Hospital in Ronan.

“We partner very closely with St. Luke now and we don’t anticipate that will change,” Hibbeler said. “A lot of the time we are servicing the same patient in different ways so that coordination becomes extremely important as we continue our health services across the reservation, but also begin to build on what our Ronan clinic offers.”

The new health center will employ 17 people, including primary care providers. Some are currently employed at the old clinic, while some will be new hires.

“Recruitment in healthcare is difficult,” Hibbeler noted. “Recruiting people to come here was much easier before our cost of housing and cost of living increased.”

Tribal Health anticipates that the new clinic will tally around 3,000 patient visits a year, and the new pharmacy – the largest in the CSKT system – will fill an estimated 35,000 prescriptions annually.

“Those are huge numbers,” said Hibbeler, and could translate into improved health care across the reservation. “It’s going to take some of the load off St. Ignatius and Polson clinics, so we expect those wait times to decrease as we open up more appointments for patients across the board.”

The handsome new health center, with its stone, timber and glass facade, was designed by MMW Architects and built by Dick Anderson Construction, both of Missoula.

“People are really excited – they can’t wait for it to open,” says Hibbeler. “They want to see the beauty of it inside and how it’s been designed.”

The public will get their first look during the grand opening, 3-6 p.m. May 4.