BOZEMAN HEALTH FOUNDATION
The Bozeman Health Foundation has received more than $3 million in cash and in-kind support for the Bozeman Health Big Sky Medical Center, the 52,000-square-foot hospital on Lone Mountain Trail slated to open in early December.
Jason Smith, executive vice president of philanthropy at BHF, said that a combined pledge of $1 million has helped BSMC meet a fundraising challenge set by the Charles and Peggy Stephenson Family Foundation to match their $850,000 gift to provide for a high-quality MRI unit.
The Yellowstone Club, Yellowstone Club Community Foundation, Moonlight Basin and the Spanish Peaks Mountain Club joined forces to meet the challenge. A 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner was installed in Big Sky Medical Center on Oct. 23.
In addition to closing out the MRI challenge grant, these pledges along with gifts from several other supporters will help establish the Fund for Excellence and Innovation in Big Sky Patient Care. This fund aims to ensure those who know the Big Sky community and its healthcare needs can acquire new leading edge equipment, train hospital staff in new techniques, and provide new treatments and services to patients.
“Perhaps more than in any other sector, healthcare is changing at an incredible pace and we need to stay nimble,” said BSMC Medical Director Dr. Phil Hess. “As we bring Montana’s first truly new hospital in decades to life, the [new fund] will allow us to continue to enhance services for the future and to seize opportunities that we may not even know exist yet.”
A number of community members and companies have also contributed money and in-kind donations to the project.
Loren Bough, who together with his wife Jill was among the first supporters of this new fund, expects the hospital to be a game changer for healthcare in Big Sky.
“The opening of Big Sky Medical Center will represent a transformative moment in the life of our community,” said Bough, vice president of YCCF and a newly appointed member of the medical center’s board of managers. “Bozeman Health has been a great partner and delivered on their initial promises to the community.”
The nonprofit community hospital located in Big Sky Town Center will feature a four-bed inpatient unit, primary care clinic, imaging center, laboratory services, retail pharmacy, outpatient medical procedure suite, and six-room emergency department. The multiphase project was designed to accommodate four additional patient beds and supplementary clinic space as needs in the community grow.
