EKALAKA — In a rural state like Montana, access to healthcare can often mean the difference between life and death. Those rural healthcare services are costly—which is why Dahl Memorial Healthcare in Ekalaka is asking its citizens for funding to continue providing critical services.
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“(The closest hospital) is the one in Baker. And so that’s at least 35 to 40 miles,” said Sheila Sherman, the interim chief executive officer of Dahl Memorial Healthcare, in a recent interview with MTN News.
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The vast land creates obstacles when it comes to access to healthcare.
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“Coming across (Highway 7), it’s a difficult road to come across on a nice day,” Sherman said. “Imagine that in the winter. It’s not passable on many, many days.”
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Highway 7 connects Ekalaka to Baker but can often be a dangerous path to take.
“When there’s poor weather, oftentimes we are unable to get patients out, and so we’re maintaining that patient care for long periods of time,” said Carla Dowdy, the chief medical officer of Dahl, in a recent interview with MTN. “It requires a certain level of expertise in emergency medicine despite our lower volumes.”
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Since the 1990s, Carter County has placed a mill levy on its ballot every two years to fund the hospital.
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“To not have that support moving forward, it would be a huge pressure on this organization,” Sherman said.
The levy provides $260,000 for general hospital support and has only failed once over the years.
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“We’re really counting on it for the future of our hospital,” Sherman said.
Not only do residents of Carter County depend on the hospital for care, they also depend on it for housing.
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The hospital’s long-term care unit is currently home to around 20 residents.
“We have our residents, of course, and that’s anywhere from 18 to 20 patients,” Sherman said. “There’s a permanent home here, so we serve them on a daily basis.”
Ekalaka’s isolated location led to the hospital seeking out a critical access hospital designation.
“A critical access hospital is a special designation. You get that medication through applying with Medicare,” Sherman said. “Where community hospitals are, they’re community hospitals, right? But critical access is a special designation.”
