Powell Valley Hospital’s operating room remodel is going to include the creation of new patient access to ease the entry of surgical patients to the department and a new registration and waiting area as well. 

At Monday’s Powell Hospital District meeting, after deliberations and even a field trip to the area designated for the expansion, members unanimously agreed to spend an estimated additional $551,000 to expand what was already a more than $1 million project. 

Board member R.J. Kost, who expressed his frustration over a decision years ago to do some work on the top floor of the clinic building that has only ever been used for storage, advised the rest of the board that if the work should be done, it should be done completely. 

Consultants had offered a cheaper option to provide just the shell of what could eventually be the new area, or board members could also have turned down the project altogether despite staff being in favor of it. 

“We’re at $1.3, $1.4 million, what’s that doing for us and what’s the purpose of that money?” Kost asked, “What can we do to help our hospital be more productive? Does a million do that, or if we dip down to $900,000, is that so bad? Are we trying to move the hospital forward, or are we going to say, ‘Nope, we’ll stay the way we are.’ Do we do it, or do we accept the fact that we don’t want to move forward?”

Board members were all in agreement with Kost. 

“It’s just such a wise economic move,” PHD Chair Boni Katz said Monday in an interview.

The full remodel project being done in three phases will include, in Phase 1, eight new recovery bays, a new endoscopy procedure room, new restroom and medication room and, thanks to the additional funds, new outpatient registration, waiting area and the shell space for future pain procedure expansion in Phase 3, as well as a new mechanical unit location on the roof. 

Phase 2 includes three new post anesthesia care bays and a new nurses station, dictation and equipment storage. 

Phase 3 includes a new operating room, new anesthesia, new sterile processing to support operating rooms, new pain procedure room and four recovery bays, as well as completion of the shell space created in Phase 1 for pain procedures. 

RN Dustin Smith, co-director of the OR, said the expansion to the remodel will allow for better patient care when it’s done and in the future if patient levels rise as expected. 

“We have been through just about every possible design for this new area,” he said. “No matter how we spun that, we asked the question, is this going to benefit us? … Patients in pain now no longer have to walk the entire length of the hospital for their procedure, they can come in the back. This just adds to the 10-year plan of what this hospital can do, while accommodating increasing numbers we’re planning for.”

Interim CEO Sean McCallister said despite likely further reductions in the mill levy, one of the main funding sources for the district (aside from PVHC which makes most of its money on procedures, has a much bigger budget and funds operations), it makes better fiscal sense to do the extra work now rather than later, as costs will likely only rise. As it is, the estimated cost of the additional work is based on 2028 costs. 

With the extra work approved, Mitch Goplin, vice president of facilities and construction for Billings Clinic, said engineers can complete the construction document based on the recently completed Phase 1 layout. He said the goal is to be putting the project out to bid at the first of the year to get the best pricing.