Phillips County Hospital Going Through Many Changes

Phillips County Hospital and Clinic will be seeing many changes over the next few months.

“We’ve got a lot of good, positive things going on here,” said PCH CEO Andrew Riggin. “All with the thought of making it easier on the patients in our community.”

The hospital and clinic are going through both personnel and physical changes.

The reception area right inside the door is getting completely redone, with the goal to have an easier and quicker transition for the patients.

Some aspects of the hospital have moved into offices downstairs, opening up a place for the providers to have a space, and giving more rooms for patients to be seen in.

As for the new providers, the PCH has added two more recently, giving them a total of six.

“With the new providers we have hired and the new space, there won’t be any more of the three to five-week wait to get in,” said Riggin. “It will also allow us to have a designated ER provider alleviating the wait time there.”

Some of the new services that are coming to PCH are a new ultrasound tech that has joined the team, along with a new ultrasound machine. They will be doing ultrasounds full time, three days a week, and should be going in the next couple of months.

A new Occupational Therapist has been hired and will be up and running in July.

Riggin told the PCN that at the last board meeting, they approved a new digital x-ray room.

“We will be replacing our 17-year-old machine and putting in a brand new one,” said Riggin. “This is a very much needed service and should be installed in eight weeks.”

Riggin added that the PCH has also invested in a new bladder scanner that will eliminate patients having to go three hours away for that service.

The lab is able to do many more readings in house with fewer send-outs allowing for quicker response.

Other new services being offered are Psychiatric Care from Havre which is on-site once a month. And a Dermatologist is on-site once per month from Billings.

“We have a much greater system of networking with different resources,” said PCH CMA Jo Tharp.

Tharp added that PCH has hired Morgan Streeter, a clinical social worker, and a new chronic care provider, Barb Dunbar, as well as new LPN’s so that each provider has its own staff.

“Our new Medical Director is making sure that everyone in the ER is highly educated on things that are coming in,” said Riggin. “We’ve seen a huge increase due to people getting away from their preventative maintenance over the last couple of years.”

The PCN will be doing interviews with many of the new providers and services that are being offered at the PCH over the next few weeks. Look forward to them and when you see them around town, say hi!