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Big Sandy Medical Center is pleased to welcome Amber Groves, PA to our full time staff! Amber lives full time in Wisconsin, but is no stranger to the area or to Big Sandy Medical Center. She worked for IHS for six years and helped out as a locum provider here during that time. She fell in love with the place and has continued to come and help out a few weeks per year, until 2025 when she decided to come on full time. In the recent past she has been working internal medicine in a large health sys...
Less than ten years ago, the Big Sandy Medical Center saw record lows in patient census. With only eleven people living here, there was a dire need to figure out how to get more folks in the door. Goals were set, big changes were made, and now the facility is bursting at the seams! For the first time, Big Sandy Medical Center has a wait list for those who desire to come live in the facility. What does that mean for you and your loved ones? Simply, you cannot move in with us tomorrow. You may not be able to move in next month, or even in the...
To be an Activities Professional in the medical setting is to constantly work at keeping patients entertained, enriching their lives, maintaining physical strength, traditions, and connections with their community. To be an Activity Professional is to work, every day, at meeting one of the most basic human desires: connection. Lisa Sipler and Katherine O'dell do just that here at Big Sandy Medical Center. Lisa has been an employee for over 25 years. Starting her career as a CNA and then gaining...
Big Sandy Medical Center held it's 60th Annual Meeting on December 19, 2024. A delicious chilli and soup supper was served in the newly remodelled dining room area of the facility. With about 20 people in attendance, there was ample space to eat and hear the happenings of the last year. Line items on the agenda for the meeting included a review of the by-laws, the medical guild report, elections of the new board members, the CEO report, and a Year in Review presentation. Over the last two...
Tomorrow, December 19th, is the big day! At 5:30 pm, the BSMC Board of Directors, the CEO, and the community with gather in the BSMC dining room for the 60th Annual Meeting. Most organizations hold Annual Meetings, some out of transparency, some due to state requirement, but it is a little different than the regular monthly meeting. At the Annual Meeting, e lections take place, financial audits are reviewed, and the happenings in the business as well as the upcoming goals are discussed. On the BSMC Annual Meeting Agenda are the following...
In last week’s presidential election, 2,988 of the 3,751 registered voters in Chouteau County cast their votes. That’s 80% of the registered voters in the county! The Big Sandy Medical Center Board of Directors would love to see an 80% voter response rate at this year’s annual meeting too! BSMC is a community owned hospital, so the community gets a say in who is on the Board. You have an opportunity to again, cast your vote, and let your voice be heard. To be allowed to vote, one must be a resident of Montana and a tax payer of the Chout...
The Annual Board Meeting is slated for December 19 at 6:00 pm, at the Big Sandy Medical Center. You are invited to attend and explore the newly remodelled dining room, enjoy a warm meal, and be entered in for door prizes. While there is a Board meeting every month, the annual meeting functions a little differently. In this meeting, new members are elected, by-laws and policies are reviewed and the financial audit is explored. There will also be a “Year in Review” presentation to see all of the wonderful updates and changes that have been mad...
According to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research, polling, and news organization, Montanans have a higher rate of anxiety and depressive disorders than the natational average. If that is not concerning enough, Montana is also listed as a mental health care shortage area. To do our part to bridge the gap for some of the 27,000 people served by the Big Sandy Clinic every year, an Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) Program will be launched at the BSMC Rural Health Clinic. With the help of a $125,000 2-year grant awarded from the Montana...
On October 1, 2024 we welcomed Dr. Daniel Davis to the Big Sandy Medical Center Team as our Medical Director. He completed his doctorate in medicine from the University of California in 1995 and has been working in various capacities of emergency medicine since. A bulk of his career has been spent in research and teaching. In fact, he has been published in almost 200 articles, and written text book chapters on 26 occasions. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Emegency Physicians...
What’s “The Tea”? It is the 411, the low-down, the news, the happenings... it’s the latest here at Big Sandy Medical Center. People have always been the heart of BSMC, so you are invited to Tea, right here, with all the latest information about your home town Medical Center. There is certainly a lot happening around the Medical Center lately. The clinic staff have moved into their new building, the ribbon has been cut, and operations are settling into a new normal. Dr. Robertson has stepped down as the Medical Director, and we have welcomed Dr....
October 5, 1963 the ground was broke to begin the construction of the Big Sandy Medical Center. At that time, the desire was to provide a facility for the town doctor to see his patients and possibly tend to them overnight if they were too ill to be at home. By 1965, the building was complete, including the inscription: built by the community, for the community. BSMC has remained an independently owned, community ran organization since it originated in 1965. Changes have been made over the...
It's no secret, the Big Sandy Medical Center is expanding! For the entirety of the Medical Center's existence, the building has housed all entities under one roof; clinic, lab, xray, hospital, Emergency Department, and the long-term care. As advancements in medicine continue and changes are made to the rules and regulations from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid, American Disabilities Act and other regulatory agencies, the need to expand became clear. A 5000 square foot modular clinic...
Dr. Carley Robertson has been working at the Big Sandy Medical Center since 2007. Originally, she worked as the backup physician for Ms. Laura Hillis when Dr. Gold was on the Medical Staff. When his time at BSMC ended, Dr. Robertson became the 'default' Medical Director as there was no other MD on the staff at the time. She said, "I offered to be the Medical Director until they could find a new one, to keep the doors open." It has taken over 15 years to do that! Over the years, Dr. Gladys Young...
On August 6, the Mix, a Billings radio station, posted an article stating that two of the fastest ERs in the nation were located in Montana. A law firm in Georgia, compiled in and out times of over 4000 hospitals in the nation, and discovered the McCone County Health Center in Circle, MT has the 10th fastest time. And your local facility, the one that was built for the community, by the community, the facility that has been standing for over 65 years, the Big Sandy Medical Center, has the 4th...
After weather delays, parts delays, contractor delays, and a myriad of other barriers, the Big Sandy Rural Health Clinic opened its doors to patients for the first time Monday, August 5th. The long awaited soft opening came with a few expected hiccups that morning. There were some issues with the telephones and the computer system that caused the biggest stress. Clinic Manager, Suzy Labuda, with her team Abbey Sandlin and Morgan Simpson, and providers Krystyl Kulbeck, PA-C and Heath Horton, FNP...
Did you know people over 50 are encouraged to see their Primary Care Provider every year? Why would you need to go to the doctor yearly if you’re healthy and feel fine? If you’re not sick, don’t go, right? Even if you do get sick once in a while, if some cold medicine can help, there’s no reason to visit the doctor ever, right? Not quite. These visits are called preventative and are an opportunity to catch any pending issues that may lead to illness and failure in your body. Just like you change your engine oil routinely or brush your teeth d...
Late last year, Big Sandy Medical Center welcomed a new speciality to the clinic. Cheyenne Feltz is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, bringing mental health services to the area. While receiving treatment for your mental health used to carry quite a stigma, that reality is changing. Seeing a therapist, counselor, or Psych NP is not something to be ashamed of or feared. You would likely not think twice about getting help from a urologist for your kidney health and well-being, or a cardiologist for your heart health and well-being. Cheyenne is...
We are getting closer and closer to the opening of the new Clinic Building; a long anticipated day for the staff and community alike. After many set backs due to weather, shipping delays, contractor delays, and unforeseen circumstances, caring for you from the new building is finally starting to feel real. For the last few months, special planning meetings have taken place among the staff to help ensure a smooth transition. As they continue to work through the upcoming changes, it is important you know how this changes the process for you, the...
Have you ever gotten a bill in the mail from Big Sandy Medical Center (BSMC) or another medical facility and thought to yourself, ‘what in the world does this mean?’ Chances are, you have probably had a thought similar more than once. The medical billing system in American healthcare is confusing from the beginning to the end of the process, but that doesn’t mean it should be totally foreign to you. The billing department at BSMC has been working hard in the last few years to streamline the process, prevent errors, and make it easier for the p...
Last year, Big Sandy Medical Center began offering a service called Patient Directed Testing. This is an opportunity for you as the patient, to choose which labs you’d like to have collected without needing a provider’s order to do so. For example, let’s say one of your longest friends just learned he has prostate cancer and it makes you think long and hard about those suggested lab tests that you should be getting done regularly. After years of avoidance, you finally call to get in with your regular doctor and they are scheduling 6 month...
8 at BSMC is certainly off to a good start! The electric panel has finally been installed at the new clinic building. After waiting for over a month, progress can continue again. Hopefully, it will all work like it should and heat will be flowing this week. From there, the building needs a good cleaning and inspection, then the move in can begin! While all of that is happening across the street, inside the current building, the dining room expansion will be taking place. It should only be a...
As a non-profit organization, the IRS requires Big Sandy Medical Center to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) every three years. The CHNA is an opportunity for the members of the community to express their opinions about what is needed in the area, not just to help support their health, but to support the well-being of the community as a whole as well. You can view some of the current assessments from around the state at the Montana Healthcare Foundation’s website. The last time this was performed, residents of the community rec...
7 brought a lot of progress to the goals at BSMC. The end of the calendar year will not end our production though. 2024 will bring a continued effort to get the new building completed and begin clinic operations there, final set up of the new generator, a dining room expansion, removing the carpet from the walls of the nursing home wing, continued efforts to improve the billing process, continued improvement of our nursing care, continued development of our leadership team, more community education, and so much more. The kitchen addition...
While there may not be much for snow outside, it sure is beginning to look a lot like Christmas over at BSMC. The trees are trimmed, the halls are decorated and the festivities have started. A whole lot of celebration is packed into the month between the Thanksgiving holiday and the Christmas holiday. Last week Mary joined us from Havre to play some beautiful Christmas music on the Harp. Next week, the Big Sandy Rotary will be carolling inside the facility and the BSHS Choir will be performing a...
It’s time for the tea at BSMC. What a busy couple of months down at the Medical Center! Among normal operations in the kitchen, Johnson Controls was in the building last week to finish installing the sprinkler heads in the new dry storage and walk-in cooler areas. That was the last of the items on the to-do list so the kitchen remodel is officially complete! Progress on the installation of the new generator has been less successful. Northwestern Energy pushed back the date on getting the new 2-inch gas line installed to fuel the machine. H...
