Benefis Healthcare is the state's largest hospital.

It's a regional medical center, drawing patients from the Golden Triangle area of northcentral Montana.

The region served by the city's medical community is enormous -- five times the size of the state of New Jersey.

Bolstering the hospital's services are some 250 area doctors, more than 100 of whom are family and general practitioners, internists, pediatricians and obstetrician-gynecologists, offering primary care.

Benefis Healthcare, a not-for-profit, locally governed community health system, provides a full and complete range of world-class healthcare services -- including many often only found in much larger metropolitan areas, says Benefis CEO John Goodnow.

"Benefis has received numerous national recognitions -- including recognition as being among the top 5 percent of hospitals in the entire country for quality of care," he adds. "When you visit Benefis, we know you will be pleased with what we have to offer, how you will be treated and welcomed, and the wonderful quality you will receive."

Benefis received a Distinguished Hospital Award in 2007 from the Colorado-based HealthGrades ratings firm. The hospital was ranked in the top 5 percent for clinical excellence and for patient safety.

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Benefis came into being a decade ago through a merger of the city's two medium-size hospitals -- Columbus Hospital, owned by the Catholic Sisters of Providence, and Montana Deaconess Medical Center, founded by Methodists. The merged hospital is called Benefis Healthcare, a reference to Latin words describing charitable acts.

Benefis West, formerly Columbus Hospital, is at 500 15th Ave. S. Columbus was founded in 1892. The Benefis West campus houses outpatient surgery and rehabilitation, chemical dependency, psychiatric and transitional care units, offices for local orthopedic specialists, and the Montana Orthopedic, Neurologic and Rehabilitative Care center, or MONARC.

Benefis East, formerly Deaconess, is at 1101 26th St. S. This is the acute-care campus. Acute care, emergency services, heart surgery, neonatal intensive care and a family birthing center and skilled nursing center are at East campus. Benefis Peace Hospice of Montana is nearby.

Benefis East is building a seven-story tower, slated to be complete by June 2009. Labor and delivery, pediatrics and the neonatal intensive care unit will all be located within two stories of the tower. Labor and delivery will all take place within private rooms. The NICU also will have private rooms for the babies and their families. The Heart and Vascular Institute will be located within two floors of the tower and all radiology services will be in the tower.

The construction allows the hospital to add more private rooms and to make the rooms more compatible with family visits. "We really want to encourage family support, so this will be a much more comfortable arrangement for family," says Amy Astin, System Director of Community and Government Relations. The changes include larger waiting rooms, easier access to restrooms and more family space in patient rooms.
The general phone number for both Benefis campuses is 455-5000. For more information visit the hospital's Web site.

Benefis Heights Surgery Center is at 500 15th Ave. S. Call 455-2081 between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. for more information. Patients who need a night to recover from surgery may do so.