BILLINGS — A grand opening ceremony was held at the Corner of Gable and Hesper Roads in Billings on Monday for The Rehabilitation Hospital of Montana.
The new facility is the only freestanding rehab hospital in Montana.
The hospital is designed help people recovering from stroke, brain and spinal cord injuries.
The hospital is operated in a partnership with the Billings Clinic, St. Vincent Healthcare and Kindred Healthcare.
"What you don't want to do in health care is duplicate services," said Billings Clinic Vice President of Operations Chad Miller. "And any time we can get two organizations that serve our community with a high level of health care, we want to do that. The combination of meetings with St. V's and Kindred allowed us to do that and make sure our patients are being taken care of."
The hospital features 34 private rooms, two rehab gyms, and even a room that's set up like a one-bedroom apartment.
The staff's goal is to help people recover from stroke, brain and spinal cord injuries to the point where patients can return to their homes.
"The goal would be to come here and fine tune everything they need to do. So when they go back into the community and live in their house, they are back to where they need to be to live a great, functional life," Miller said.
Kindred Healthcare has worked with St. V's on its previous rehab center, New Hope.
Now, those patients who need rehab at St. Vincent's can take advantage of the new hospital.
Remarks were given from U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a representative from U.S. Sen. Jon Tester's Billings office, Lt. Governor Mike Cooney and Billings Mayor Bill Cole.
The ribbon was cut by Ashlee Lundvall, a former patient of the New Hope rehab program at St. Vincent's.
