Hundreds take tour of new medical center
<p>Frances Sauer, 99, the first housekeeper at St. John's Lutheran Hospital gets a tour of Cabinet View Medical Center Saturday with the help of her son-in-law Bruce Carrier.</p>
<p>Bill Chalgren</p>
<p>Operating Room</p>
Hospital Tour Six
<p>Cabinet Peaks Medical Center conducted an open house Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Grant Crawford conducting the "Grand Tour."</p>
Hospital Tour
Lincoln County residents have seen the new face of medical technology, and it is Cabinet Peaks Medical Center.
For four hours Saturday, the curious — 660 in all — took 25-minute tours of the new, state-of-the-art medical facility that turns the page on St. John’s Lutheran Hospital.
From all accounts, it is impressive.
“I’ve seen Kalispell and Whitefish hospitals, and they are old,” said James English, a Libby resident who toured the new facility. “Certainly, this is better looking than any of those.”
Dave Stephenson, who took the tour with England, summed it up succinctly.
“This is just fabulous,” Stephenson said. “This is a state-of-the-art facility.”
That was the general consensus. And, just for good measure, Cabinet Peaks Medical Center CEO Bruce Whitfield was at the tour’s finish line to field questions.
“We’re very excited to showcase the hospital’s services,” Whitfield said. “We’ve finished this three to four months early and under budget, too.”
To date, the total from Saturday and “sneak peeks” bring the total to 1,170 visitors, Kate Stephens, St. John’s Hospital Foundation director, said.
The tour of the 77,000-square-foot, $35 million facility began at the front desk and included first-floor stops at the walk-in clinic, laboratory and nutritional services, Cardiopulmonary and dietary, the emergency department and the wide-bore MRI.
A ride up the spacious imaging staff elevator let tourists out at the patient rooms, each with their own bathroom and shower, which still number 25 to secure the medical center’s critical-care status. Then the tour guides showed the wonderfully spacious rehabilitation area. Rehab is a great room with a high ceiling and wide, 10-foot high windows.
The labor and delivery area is sure to please new moms with three specialized delivery rooms. Also, there is a special lactation room to help new mothers with the initial trials of breastfeeding.
Next on the tour was the massive surgical area, which is 50 percent larger than before and double the number of recovery rooms.
After a trip to chemotherapy clinic and past the chapel, a trip back down the public elevator brought tourists to the River Rock Cafe, which is a spacious dining area for medical center workers and visitors.
Throughout the new medical center beige-painted walls are adorned with the works of local photographers — all those Libby residents have come to know, including Bob Hosea, Yvonne Resch, Kathy Nielson, Ruth Fenn and Sveltana Harper to name some.
Each department features richly stained wooden doors and signs just outside that clearly represent the office, complete with accompanying Braille.
After the patient move, Cabinet Peaks Medical Center opens Jan. 30.
“It’s just fantastic,” Stephenson said.