GREAT FALLS — Benefis Health System's new Women's and Children's Center in Great Falls is set to open on Dec. 20 as a one-stop-shop.
Ground was broken on the three-story, 48,000-square-foot facility in May 2020.
It will serve as an outpatient center for women and children; each of the building’s three floors will be dedicated to a specific purpose: first floor — basic lab services, screening mammography, and pediatric therapies; second floor - pediatrics; third floor - women’s health.
This is something the hospital has been working for years to create.
"There was definitely a sentiment in the community that they would love a center like this where everything is located together," explained Benefis vice-president of Communications and Business Development Kaci Husted.
Until now, women and children's care provided by Benefis had been spread across several buildings in different parts of the city.
"For us, it's a matter of accommodating growth throughout our organization. We've had growth in new service lines as well as some of our other services," Husted said. "So when we move all of these services into one building it will create some opportunities for us to back-fill some of the locations for some of our other specialties that have grown.”
The facility also takes into account use by medical students from the in-progress medical school, and potential future needs.
"Those students will have a dedicated workspace and they won't have to congregate in a provider's office or an empty nurse's station area,” Husted said. "One of the things that we identified when we were designing this center is that our market had a need for some additional midwifery services. We have actually already now added those services."
The hospital estimates the facility will serve tens of thousands of people across the hospital's roughly 40,000-square mile service area. It is located near the intersection of 10th Avenue South and 26th Street in Great Falls.
