Health Department to expand

The Flathead City-County Health Department is beginning a nearly half-million-dollar project to make room in the Earl Bennett Building for a growing number of patients. 

County Health Officer Joe Russell said a remodel to the health department’s second and third floor is long overdue. He said a surge in health-care service offerings, providers and patients have made the roughly $489,900 thousand project necessary. 

“It’s pretty easy to see the need for more staff when you have to wait six or seven weeks to get into a dental appointment,” Russell said. More staff means more space, he said.   

During the remodel, administrative offices will shift to the second floor to make space for more clinics and lab space on the third floor. Russell said the county commissioners are expected to accept a contract bid early next week, and the building project should kick off later this month. 

The cost will be split between the Flathead City-County Board of Health and the Community Health Center budgets.  

Russell said while the center’s dental program historically relied on two providers, in the last year that grew to two full-time dentists and two full-time dental hygienists, with the possibility of a third dentist starting later this year.     

The building also houses the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana, a three-year family medicine program sponsored by the University of Montana and affiliated with the University of Washington Family Medicine Residency Network.

The program kicked off last year in the health center last year with three participants. This year, it has reached capacity with six residents.

“We’ve also seen a growth in our mental health offices — well, a lot of offices — and everything is just getting really tight,” Russell said. “We need more exam rooms and everyone needs space right now.” 

He said to create that space, some offices such Environmental Health and the Planning Department will move into the county’s new South Campus Building — a roughly $7 million construction project that’s nearing completion.  

He said on the third floor of the Earl Bennett Building, the remodel will create three new labs, making eight labs all together. The third floor also will get four exam rooms and a small lab and nursing station. 

With the overcrowding of staff and the expectation of more health-care providers joining in the future, he said offices will be constructed wherever there’s room to put them.

While the Earl Bennett Building has seen minor remodeling since it opened in 2002 to meet increased clinic demands, this is the largest project since it was built. A third floor was added to the Earl Bennett Building several years ago.

“I’m an optimist … I don’t see any substantial work being done on this building after this remodel or a lot more activity on the campus,” he said. “We’ve expanded as much as possible and have a lot of health-center offerings there now — we’ll expand in different ways in the future throughout the county.”  

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.