New Clinic Opens For First Patients

Construction continues at Mountrail County Health Center this spring, but a significant piece of that construction is now open for patients.

On Monday, Mar. 2 the doors opened for the new section of the T.H. Reiarson clinic for the first time. Hospital staff spent the weekend before moving from the old portion of the clinic to the new portion so that when the first patients came in at 8 a.m. everything was ready.

The new portion of the clinic houses six patient rooms. The old clinic is now in the process of remodeling and updating with the gutting of that area starting early on Monday, Mar. 2 as well. Once the old clinic space is remodeled and updated, there will be a total of 15 patient rooms. The new space includes four offices including three provider and one clinic manager office. The old clinic space will also have four offices.

Although the new clinic opened about two months later than planned, MCMC is hopeful that the remodel of the existing clinic space will still be completed in time for the planned grand opening and ribbon cutting on Sunday, Mar. 29 at 2 p.m.

Clinic manager Janel Borud says that the staff is excited to finally be in the new space and they are thankful to the T.H. Reiarson Trust for the donation that made this clinic a reality. While work continues on the remodel, there will be some challenges for staff and patients. Some offices are still being used on the existing side as well in the new side. That means that there will be some long walk pass throughs for staff. They have set up a temporary lab station in the conference room to accommodate blood draws, but patients needing to access radiology will be passing through the construction zone.

Clinic staff asks patients to be patient and pardon their construction. Among the early issues faced were phone problems. Patients may have had trouble getting through to the clinic. They hope those are fixed, but if you get a message, please keep trying to get through.

The expansion to the clinic will mean good things for patients and providers moving forward. The additional space will allow for more specialists and aid as the facility continues to look for additional full time providers to serve the ever growing patient needs in the area.

Also, plan now to attend the grand opening and ribbon cutting on March 29 and get a look at the changes and updates. Watch for more details in the coming weeks.

–Courtesy of Mountrail County Promoter