Kalispell Regional begins free valet parking

Kalispell Regional Medical Center has announced it will provide season-round valet parking for patients and visitors, as continued construction projects further shrink already limited parking on the campus.

Cory Brooks, the chief security officer for the medical center, said the free services is in response to an easily recognizable issue on the growing campus.

“Patient and visitor parking is diminishing gradually,” Brooks said. “We knew that there’s been parking issues out here, and want the public to know we heard them and we’ll do anything we can to make it easier for them to access the care they need.”

He said there are three full-time valet workers in front of the registration entrance on the northwest corner of the hospital. The drivers will be stationed there Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

In the past, the medical center has hosted temporary valet services during major construction projects or throughout the winter.

But as Kalispell Regional has continued to become a destination for health care, the road and parking system at the expanding medical complex has struggled to keep up.

The medical center’s Kalispell campus has grown to about 3,300 employees, though they have rotating shifts. According to hospital records from August, the campus is set to have 1,332 parking spaces after all current building projects are completed.

Brooks said with the construction on a 190,000-square-foot pediatric center just east of the hospital’s main entrance will remove even more spaces from the campus lots.

According to hospital data from August, the new pediatric center will absorb 264 parking spaces. Soon after the project was announced, a $1 million parking lot expansion kicked off on the north side of campus, which added 308 parking spots.

Brooks said another project coming up this spring, a 30,000-square-foot expansion of the gastrointestinal facility, will remove an additional 40 spaces.

He said a recent employee parking lot expansion just north of the hospital has helped ease the congestion on campus. But patients and visitors still have to circle parking lots and walk a distance before getting into the hospital.

“I anticipate the valet parking will be a mainstay until eventually the organization builds a parking structure, which is not my call, but I think we went out as far as we can go, and we’ll eventually have to build up,” Brooks said.

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