St. Joseph Medical Center is a 22-bed critical access hospital in beautiful northwest Montana. With expanding services, building renovations and outstanding technology, our community hospital is the heart of medical care in Polson and the large, sparsely populated surrounding area. St. Joseph is part of Providence Health & Services, a not-for-profit network of hospitals, clinics, physicians and affiliated services operating in Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon and Washington. We have close ties to St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center, Providence’s tertiary center located 66 miles away in Missoula. As part of the Providence family, we are able to provide state-of-the-art medical services as well as compassionate, personal attention to each patient.

About the Area
Polson lies within the Flathead Indian Reservation on the edge of the largest and arguably most beautiful body of fresh water in the West. Flathead Lake, the geological centerpiece of this part of Montana, is framed by some of the Rockies’ most scenic and spectacular subranges, including the Mission, Salish and Swan Mountains.

Life moves at a slower pace here but it is anything but boring. There is so much to do! From hiking, hunting and fishing to famous car shows and other community events, residents clearly don’t take each other or their amazing natural surroundings for granted.

There is a rich cultural heritage in Polson as well, both in terms of its “wild west” history as a cattle and logging town and its more distant history as the native lands of the Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille peoples. Museums, parks and a cultural center preserve the ways of the past, while living history is also apparent in the form of Native American people and events as well as cattle ranches and farms that continue to operate in the area.

Programs and Services
Primary and Specialty Care
St. Joseph Medical Center offers outstanding primary and specialty care through the dedicated work of our own provider team and through innovative collaborations with other organizations who share our dedication to quality patient care. We recently opened a new walk-in clinic that has been very well received by the community. Another communityminded goal is to minimize the need for patients to travel to larger facilities for care. Some of our specialty services are delivered through visiting specialists who see patients here on a weekly basis, including cardiologists from the International Heart Institute of Montana, oncologists from Montana Cancer Specialists, and audiologists from Missoula Hearing. Twice each month our patients can be seen by a visiting dermatologist, otolaryngologist or urologist. We also schedule monthly visits with plastic surgeons and ophthalmologists.

Women’s Heart Health Program
The program aims to help educate women about special heart risks they face and to provide support for prevention and treatment measures. This unique service is offered in conjunction with experts from the International Heart Institute of Montana, which is based at our sister hospital, St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center in Missoula.

Radiology Department
St. Joseph Medical Center has invested in top-quality imaging products to help our practitioners provide the highest levels of patient care. We recently added digital mammography to our premium performance ultrasound system. The FourSight 4D technology gives physicians a more complete view of the uterus or breast, improving interventional procedures such as 4D needleguided biopsies. It has also improved our maternal-fetal medicine services by providing enhanced information for neonatal specialists and parents. St. Joseph also has a new General Electric Bright Speed multi-slice CT scanner and a Phillips 1.5 Tesla MRI. Our dedicated radiology technicians are available 14 hours per day to accommodate busy work schedules.

Rehabilitation Services
Our skilled and compassionate team delivers comprehensive services to individuals with physical dysfunction secondary to disability, disease or injury. We offer expert care to patients of all ages for conditions including acute and chronic low back pain, amputation, arthritis, pre- and post-partum, neurological and spinal chord, and sports medicine.

Assisted Living Program
We serve the elderly in our community based on the principles of dignity, independence, privacy, individuality and homelike surroundings. We provide our patients with as much freedom and choice as possible, from the size and accoutrements of their apartment to care packages designed to fit personal needs.


Special Recognition
Full accreditation by the Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO)

Press Gainey patient satisfaction in the 90th percentile three years running


Statistics of Interest
Employees: 224
Active medical staff members: 12
Licensed beds: 22

Annual data (2009):
Births: 141
Admissions: 563
Average daily census: 4.4
Emergency Department visits: 4,942
Surgeries: 825
Average inpatient length of stay: 2.8 days

Contact Us
Want to learn more about physician opportunities with Providence Health & Services? Call our Physician Services & Development team at 503-216-5449 or tollfree 1-866-504-8178. We look forward to speaking with you.

#6 Thirteenth Ave. E. • Polson, MT • 59860-1010 • www.saintjoes.org/