NWHC History

1895 - Mrs. Ella R. Webber constructed Kalispell’s first hospital at the corner of Fourth Avenue East and Center Street. A larger two-story building was erected on the adjoining property in 1905. When the Great Northern Railway relocated its main line through Whitefish, Mrs. Webber's two-story hospital proved to be too large and too costly a facility for the small community of Kalispell to support, and the building was converted into the Crescent Hotel and later the Fernwell Apartments.
Local physicians made the next effort to establish a hospital at 24 First Avenue West and then two years later at 303 Fourth Avenue East.

1910 - The Sisters of Mercy purchased the old hospital and its equipment from the doctors' association and began operation immediately at that site until a new building was constructed. Work on the new building began in July of 1911.

1912 - The Sisters moved into the new 30-bed hospital, which they named Kalispell General Hospital.

1948 - A south wing was added, which doubled the number of patient beds.

1964 - A north wing was added.

1968 - The first lay Administrator, Alex McAllister was hired to oversee the daily operations of the hospital. The Sisters continued their services as nurses and performed other supporting jobs throughout the hospital.

1973 - The Sisters of Mercy sold the hospital to Flathead Health Center, Inc. and the new owner began immediately to develop plans to build a larger facility on Buffalo Hill.

1975 - The name of the hospital was changed to Kalispell Regional Hospital reflecting the corporation's mission to provide quality services into the communities outside of the Flathead area.

1975 - A.L.E.R.T., the nation's first rural hospital-based helicopter ambulance service, flew its first patient.

1976 - The new hospital was completed and patients were transferred to the new facility at 310 Sunnyview Lane.

1981 - A medical/surgical ICU was added. The following year the corporation reorganized and formed Northwest Healthcare as a non-profit parent corporation. The new Board of Directors was charged with long-range planning to expand services beyond the scope of a traditional acute care hospital.

1985 - Brendan House, an extended care facility, was opened. That same year wellness programs and preventive medicine were offered to the community at the Health Promotion Center. In addition to community health education, a vast array of rehabilitative programs was introduced through the Health Promotion Center.

1987 - The hospital became the first in the state of Montana to install an MRI. A cancer treatment center was added, and a new freestanding Obstetrics Department was opened. KRH also opened the area's first hospital-based home health agency, and A.L.E.R.T. purchased a new helicopter, a Bell JET Longranger.

1989 - Dialysis and Inpatient Rehabilitation facilities were added. Previously, patients were forced to seek these services out of the valley at great additional expense to their families.

1991 - KRH tripled the size of its Emergency Department because of a rapidly expanding community. KRH purchased a psychiatric and chemical dependency hospital, and renamed the facility Pathways Treatment Center, focusing on the treatment of adults and adolescents.

1994 - Keeping an eye toward the future, KRH purchased nearly 50 acres adjacent to the hospital to develop the property into residential and commercial sites and funnel the profit into a planned major renovation and expansion of the campus.

1996 - The Summit Community Center for Health Promotion and Fitness, opened, combining the services of Second Wind (fitness) and the Health Promotion Center (community health education and rehabilitation) into one 84,000 square foot building.

1997 - The corporation reorganized again and changed the name of Kalispell Regional Hospital to Kalispell Regional Medical Center to better represent the wide range of regional service offerings to neighboring providers.

1998 - An indoor tennis facility was added to The Summit, increasing the total square footage of the facility to more than 100,000 square feet.

1999 - KRMC transferred ownership of the Dialysis Services to a national non-profit agency specializing in Dialysis.

2000 - Because of increased patient demand and the need to improve capacity and technology, the A.L.E.R.T. helicopter was upgraded a larger, faster Bell 407.

2001 - Open-heart surgery became a reality at KRMC after an affiliation agreement was signed between KRMC and the International Heart Institute in Missoula. A cardiac catheterization lab was completed shortly after the open-heart program was launched.

2001 - The Northwest Healthcare Foundation was established to enhance philanthropic support of health care services.

2003 - The new cancer treatment center with IMRT capability began treating patients.

2004 - A special relationship was forged with Native Air (OMNI Flight) of Mesa, Arizona, to complement our A.L.E.R.T. program’s helicopter service with a Pilatus PC-12, when weather grounds the rotor craft. Native Air also provides the long-range critical-care transport of a fixed wing air service to our community.

2006 - Northwest Healthcare established Kalispell Professional Staffing Services to assist regional health care providers with temporary staffing.

2007 - Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) technology was implemented at the KRMC Cancer Center

2008 - The Winkley Women's Center, a mobile mammography coach, hit the road, offering digital mammography, ultrasound and DXA bone density screening to women in rural communitites.

2008 - Kalispell Regional Medical Center expanded its birthing center to include a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and the services of a neonatologist.

2008 - Kalispell Regional Medical Center expanded with the addition of the Bass Breast Center to offer comprehensive breast health care to the women of Montana.