Billings Clinic Broadwater Celebrates 120 Years Serving Community
Author: mt43news staff reporter
Billings Clinic Broadwater Celebrates 120 Years Serving Community
MT43 News Staff Reporter
Broadwater County’s hospital has endured for 120 years. Its history came to light when interim Chief Executive Officer Justin Tiffany opened a celebration of the years with a short speech before a crowd Friday at the hospital. He talked about the first doctors who in 1905 opened a hospital in a home on Pine Street to serve patients. He mentioned doctors who served during the 1916 Spanish Influenza Epidemic, how others built a new hospital in 1935 on the site where the current hospital is located, and how hard times hit before COVID and the hospital was nearly closed for good.
“This hospital and clinic now exist only because the people, the community, believed in it and backed it in hard times. In 2012, when the nursing home closed, the board and Bill Kearns, along with State Bank of Townsend, stepped up to get medical care and emergency care back on track in Townsend. I feel so thrilled to be a part of the amazing team we continue to have and work with as this hospital not only continues to exist, but to thrive,” Tiffany said.
He thanked the nonprofits Community Health Foundation and Circle One Hundred for their contributions to maintaining and adding to the hospital and nursing home. Community Health Foundation director and past president Ernie Nunn spoke of his 30 years of service with the hospital and then the Foundation. “I continue to serve this hospital because it is important to the lives of those in this community. I ought to know: doctors and ambulance attendants saved my life in two different times,” he explained.
The Community Health Foundation continues to play a large part in the hospital’s success, Nunn explained: “Revenues from our endowment have reached $141,000, which will be plowed back into the hospital the community health system, including the county health department. That is the highest return we have seen from the endowment to date.”
Although she could not attend the ceremony, Cindy Holland Kirksey, who is a resident of the long-term care unit, related in an interview the huge importance of the facility to her and her family. Her father, Clint, acted as the hospital’s administrator. During that time, Hollands lived across the street from the hospital. Cindy came to work with her dad as a child, then worked part-time as his secretary. Years later, she worked as an Activities Aid for the long-term care unit. Having come full circle. Mrs. Kirksey emphasized how well the staff runs the operation and how well residents are cared for. “My Dad would be very pleased with how well the staff runs the operation. For me now, it is my home. I love it here,” she ended.
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PhotoCredit: Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer and Facebook (last photo)
Image 1 Caption: Justin Tiffany, CEO of Billings Clinic Broadwater, grins as he talks to community members who attended the 120-year celebration.
Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
Image 2 Caption: Mary Mistek, Dolly McMaster and Pat Plantenberg enjoy the goodies at the hospital celebration.
Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
Image 3 Caption: Justin Tiffany, CEO of Billings Clinic Broadwater, welcomes a group of community residents.
Photo found on Facebook
