Hospitals Come Together To Support Improving Healthcare In The Region

Through the Rural Health Development Hospital Improvement Grant several eastern Montana facilities have banded together to provide support for each other on a regional basis. It is designed to provide additional funding for hospitals for capital purchases, quality improvements and for creating cost savings and operational efficiencies. The grant is meant to benefit smaller facilities in implementing improvements in their facilities on an annual basis.

The Hospital Improvement Grant has been established since 2009 and has distributed over $460,000 with participation from over 26 healthcare facilities. The participating facilities, on a voluntary basis, contribute funds to Rural Health Development, Inc. a 5013©. Once the funds are received, applications are reviewed by the grants committee, made up of rural hospital CEOs and then funding is distributed.

This year, Sidney Health Center received a grant for $5,223.17 for the purchase of an Obelisk™ UV Portable Total Room Sanitizer. The portable UV room sanitizer will be shared between the three operating rooms on a rotating basis. The new equipment is an affordable, lightweight, portable and extremely powerful solution for sanitizing surfaces and air in the surgery department. It will be instrumental in promoting patient safety by successfully disinfecting against all microbes including the most difficult bacteria and viruses.

"When we applied for the grant, little did we know how instrumental this equipment would become during the COVID-19 pandemic," stated Jennifer Doty, Sidney Health Center CEO. "We are so grateful for the funding as it helps protect the health and safety of our surgical patients."

Each year, Sidney Health Center averages more than 1,700 surgeries annually. Surgical specialties include general surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, otolaryngology, orthopedic, and podiatric.

The funds are distributed to the region's smaller critical access hospitals, but funding comes from all hospitals in the region including Billings Clinic and St Vincent's Healthcare.

For further information about the grant please contact Montana Health Network.