Stanley hospital halfway through upgrade project

STANLEY, N.D. (AP) - The hospital in the western North Dakota oil patch city of Stanley is halfway through a multimillion-dollar upgrade.

The Mountrail County Health Center has scheduled a Sunday afternoon ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first phase of the project. The center invested more than $6 million to expand its emergency room area, add a CT scanner and enclose its ambulance bay, KXMC-TV reported (https://bit.ly/1jPBgFP ).

“It has added space to see additional patients,” Chief Financial Officer Sue Weston said. “We do have multiple traumas from either oil rig accidents or vehicle accidents because of the increased volume (of energy activity) in this part of the state.”

Either type of accident usually involves more than one patient, which was part of the reason for the expansion, Weston said. The hospital also will now be better equipped to deal with trauma cases, meaning fewer patients transferred to larger hospitals in other cities.

“It’s less stress on our ambulance service in the county, it’s less stress on the patients and hopefully helps us better care for our patients,” Health Center CEO Doris Brown said.

Officials on Thursday broke ground for the second phase of the project - a $2 million expansion and remodeling of the clinic area. The number of examination rooms will go from six to 13, and office space will be added for traveling specialists.

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Information from: KXMC-TV, https://www.kxnet.com