KALISPELL - The Greater Valley Health Center recently received a grant from the Flathead Electric Co-Op Roundup For Safety to purchase an EKG machine for Kalispell Public Schools.
“It's huge, it makes all the difference. In medicine, there's so many things that can cause chest pain, and it's nice to have equipment to be able to analyze the rhythm of the heart. But it's also important for things like sports physicals,” said Greater Valley Health Center Resident Physician Dr. Bryce Roberts.
“When we perform sports physicals, we asked a lot of questions about family history and cardiac risk and being able to perform an EKG at the time of the visit eliminates barriers for families,” said Greater Valley Health School-Based Health Program Collaboration Specialist Jill Pate.
The grant was received shortly after the opening of the Wellness Center Glacier High School through Greater Valley Health Center’s School Based Health Program.
The Wellness Center is a place for students to go, in their school, for general health checkups, sports physicals and whatever else they may need.
“It's really, really convenient, I think, for the athletes because they can just like walk right down here and then it's right there,” said Glacier High School student Davis Rennie.
The Wellness Center at Glacier High opened on Oct. 12, but similar programs have been available for the last 18 months at East Evergreen Elementary School and the Linderman Education Center.
“I think it's gonna be really nice and really helpful for many students. I think it's really convenient and important that we have this access to healthcare in our schools,” said Glacier High School student Emma Pate.
The EKG machine for District 5 has been ordered and will hopefully be received and ready to use within the next few weeks.
“It feels great, just to be able to provide that service for patients is so... it makes me happy just thinking about it,” said Dr. Roberts.
