What a difference a couple of decades can make.
“Twenty years ago, I had 80 employees,” Bartos said. “I have close to 500 now. Our annual budget was $1.5 million. It's now pushing $60 million. We had eight physicians then. We now have 31.”
In response to that growth, officials at Marcus Daly Memorial worked with boards and community groups to develop an ambitious six-phase initiative to expand and update the hospital over the next dozen years.
This week, construction crews were already well into making the first phase a reality.
The iron skeleton of the new $5.4 million, 20,000-square-foot emergency department is taking shape on the hospital's north side. The project - which will more than double the existing ER - should wrap up early next summer.
Kevin Qualm of Missoula's Jackson Contractor Group said construction is about a third completed. Eventually, Qualm said, there will be about 35 people working at the site.
Winter weather could slow the outside masonry construction, but Qualm said the cold won't stop workers from doing interior work.
“We'll keep rolling on right through the winter,” he said. “It is a fun project. Cosmetically, it's going to be really pleasing to the eye.”
The new facility will feature 16 emergency treatment rooms with state-of-the-art equipment mounted into the walls and ceiling. A centralized nursing station will provide easy access to all the rooms by medical staff. And the building includes decontamination and isolation rooms.
The emergency department is designed both to be functional and comforting, said Marty Noyd of OZ Architects of Missoula. It will offer places for families to gather, and a private consulting room.
Rather than the stark industrial feel often associated with emergency hospital facilities, Noyd said the company's design team worked to make the facility more comfortable for patients and their families.
“We've tried to keep things nice and lightly colored,” Noyd said. “There will be a lot of browns and tans, and lots of wood floors. If the patient feels more comfortable, hopefully that will translate into faster healing.”
The new facility should go a long way in helping the hospital meet the increased demands put on it by the valley's growing population.
Since 1995, urgent care at Marcus Daly Memorial has jumped by 228 percent.
Twenty years ago, the Hamilton hospital saw about 900 patients requiring emergency care annually.
Last year, the hospital's emergency department treated nearly 9,000 patients. And that figure doesn't include the more than 7,000 patients who sought help from the facility's Convenient Care Center, which treats people with less severe illnesses and injuries.
“The increase in volume in our emergency rooms has been very significant,” Bartos said.
By 2020, it's predicted that close to 11,000 patients will be using the ER on an annual basis. The extra space should help address one of the valley's priority medical needs, Bartos said.
Over the next 10 to 12 years, Bartos said there are plans to add a rehabilitation center, a new heating plant and generator, a two-story building to house a variety of functions and more than double the number of hospital rooms.
So far, the public has been supportive of the new construction, he said.
Locals picked up about $3 million of the $7 million in tax revenue bonds that financed the upgrade of the emergency department and other improvements.
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., also helped push through a $300,000 appropriation for the isolation and decontamination rooms.
“Our standard of care is continually improving,” Bartos said. “We have a responsibility to provide the best health care possible. That's what our ultimate goal is.”
Reporter Perry Backus can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at pbackus@missoulian.com
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