In the Media
News Articles
Q2 Story - Aug. 10, 2021
Doctors at Billings Clinic hope this piece of equipment will help them save more lives from lung cancer. Lung cancer kills more people annually than any other cancer and it is critical that its caught early.
“When you see something on a scan you can tell anyone it looks like you have lung cancer, you clinically have lung cancer, but now we can actually go in and biopsy it through a minimally invasive outpatient procedure that will tell them you indeed have lung cancer. Then, we’ll be able to really talk through the options they have for treatment going forward,” says Dr. Sarah Counts, a thoracic surgeon at Billings Clinic.
Q2 Story - Dec. 22, 2020
Siblings Brad VonBergen, Cheri Asay and Shelly Seidel are experienced registered nurses who say they are tired. Like everyone else, they are tired of COVID-19.
All three work at different Billings healthcare facilities, and each has and does care for patients who’ve contracted the illness. Many have died.
Q2 Story - Dec. 16, 2020
Every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke, about 610,000 of which are first or new strokes according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The faster patients get emergency treatment for stroke, the better their prognosis and recovery,” said Dr. Gauhar Chaudhary, Billings Clinic Stroke Program Director. “There are treatments we can offer in the first few hours from stroke onset which can dramatically improve the outcome so it is critical to call 911 immediately.”
Q2 Story by Mitch lagge - Dec. 15, 2020
On Tuesday, five health care workers at Billings Clinic were the first in the city to be injected with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, hopefully signaling a light at the end of the tunnel in the long fight against COVID-19.
The five vaccinated each represented an aspect of the health care system that sees COVID-19 patients. A physician, respiratory therapist, nurse, environmental services staff member and Billings Fire Department paramedic all voluntarily received the vaccine.
Q2 Story - Dec. 15, 2020
Billings Clinic received its first shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday.
Hospital officials said in a press release the first vaccines will be administered Tuesday to a team of five people who will represent every member of the Billings Clinic health system and first responders who have been at the forefront of caring for our rural and urban Montana and Wyoming communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gazette Story by Matt Hoffman - Dec. 14, 2020
Ellen Edlund, the Billings Clinic nurse who battled for her life against COVID-19, carried dual messages as she traveled through a tunnel of cheering staffers during her discharge.
The first was of gratitude — for her care at Billings Clinic, for the support of family, friends, co-workers and strangers, and for simply being alive.
"It takes a village, and because of all of your guys' love and care and support, I'm leaving here today," she told dozens of employees who gathered for her discharge from the hospital.
Q2 Story by David Jay - Dec. 12, 2020
A Big Timber man in the hospital for COVID-19 had a chance to participate virtually in his son's wedding on Friday.
Donald Brewer came down with the virus close to Thanksgiving and has been in the Billings Clinic Intensive Care Unit.
He watched the wedding for his son Sterling and his new daughter- in-law Destiny.
The nurses helped him dress up and had wedding decorations, cake and sparkling cider for his part of the festivities.
ABC on-going coverage of COVID-19 at Billings Clinic
Q2 Story by Chaquille Cozart - Dec. 8, 2020
A memorial service was held Tuesday afternoon for Billings Clinic Dr. Larry Warren Amstutz, who died Nov. 27 at the hospital due to COVID-19 complications. During the service, a Bur Oak tree was planted for Amstutz. Jim Duncan, president for Billings Clinic Foundation, said Tuesday afternoon that the tree was chosen due to its 200 to 300-year longevity, which will serve as a symbol for the lasting impact Amstutz' legacy will have on everyone who knew him.
CNBC Interview - Nov. 30, 2020
Dr. Scott Ellner, CEO of Billings Clinic, and Troy Wells, CEO of Baptist Health in Arkansas, join CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" to discuss the surging infection rates of Covid-19 throughout the United States, and the strain the pandemic puts on local hospital systems.
KULR8 Interview by Riley Nagel - Nov. 18, 2020
November is Diabetes Awareness Month. To help us learn more about this disease, we met with a local resident, Madison Martinez, 19, who has lived with type 1 diabetes for 10 years.
ABC coverage of COVID-19 surge at Billings Clinic
Interviews by ABC Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman
In recent weeks, we have seen that in action as Montana has garnered national attention due to this fall’s unfortunate and alarming COVID-19 surge. A national team from ABC News spent three days this week in Billings reporting on the situation, and much of it was shared through the lens of Billings Clinic. They showed the amazing work we are doing and highlighted the personal stories and professional dedication of our people.
Gazette Story by Susan Olp - Aug. 28, 2020
After 41 years in medicine, 34 of them as a cardiovascular surgeon at Billings Clinic, Millikan, 66, will retire on Friday. He’s not one to keep count of cases, but the longtime surgeon figures over four decades he’s performed more than 10,000 operations, thousands of them open-heart surgeries.
Q2 Interview by Victoria Hill - Apr. 2020
Krista Bakkedahl, a pediatric physical therapist at Billings Clinic, joined Montana This Morning on Tuesday to share information about the proper positioning for children while they learn at home.
Q2 Story by Andrea Lutz - Apr. 2020
Billings hospitals are taking on a new virtual platform now that the coronavirus pandemic has forced many to stay home.
In recent weeks, those with Billings Clinic have worked to transfer many doctor visits to virtual ones to still meet the needs of patients.
Q2 Story by Mitch Lagge - Apr. 2020
Retired Billings pediatrician Patrick Sauer and his wife Terry received the welcome surprise of a personal parade Friday to see old friends in a socially distanced way during Patrick’s battle with cancer.
Gazette Story by Richard Lammers, DO, and Nathan Allen, MD - Mar. 2020
We need your help. We need you to stay home.
We are the emergency medicine physicians working in your local hospitals. We are here for you now, and we will be here for you no matter how bad the novel coronavirus pandemic gets. We are working nonstop to keep you safe in our emergency rooms, clinics and hospitals.
But there is something you need to know and something you need to do.
Gazette Story by Casey Page - Feb. 2020
Randy Thompson was at his home in Lockwood in January when he woke up to chest pain.
He had gotten the same kind of pain before, but this time it was in the left side of his chest and shoulder.
Being an emergency physician at Billings Clinic, he knew the symptoms of an heart attack.
Gazette Story by Larry Mayer - Aug. 2019
The Rehabilitation Hospital of Montana, a joint venture between Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare, was unveiled at a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday.
The 34-bed facility at Hesper and Gabel roads will cater to those who require significant and prolonged medical services to recover from the likes of strokes, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries.
KTVQ Story by David Jay - March 2019
A Billings family added a little extra excitement for the birth of a child when the mother didn’t quite get all the way inside the hospital.
Mckinley Michael was born at 8:20 a.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of the Billings Clinic.
KULR8 Story by Mary Jane Belleza - March 2019
"All of the sudden out of the blue, I started having what you'd call classic symptoms which would be chest pain, shortness of breath, started sweating. I felt like my heart was racing and I was getting pain up and down both arms," said Sones.
Q2 Story by Mitch Lagge - Feb. 2019
If you have been feeling down lately with this extended period of winter weather gripping the Treasure State, you may have Seasonal Affective Disorder and not even know it.
“(I want) people to realize that this is a real thing,” said Keri Cross, Billings Clinic psychiatric service nurse manager. “Some people are like, ‘Oh you know that’s just hogwash, that’s not anything that’s really real.’ But it is. And it is something that you can get treatment for.”
KULR8 Story by Briana Monte - Feb. 2019
Have you ever felt like you couldn't move when you're sleeping or like you're brain is wide awake, but your body is not? This is called sleep paralysis and it can be a bit frightening to experience.
A room that is located at the Billings Clinic contains a bed for patients alongside a ton of wires. It's for people with sleeping disorders. Aleksandra Kwasnik is a sleep doctor and said one of those disorders is called Sleep Paralysis.
KTVQ Story by Samantha Sullivan - Nov. 2018
We are all, at one point or another, guilty of feeling invincible. That the problems other people face will not make their way into our lives.
Wyoming police officer C.S. Dickey believed a lifetime of activity would save him from a 40-plus year smoking habit.
KTVQ Story - Oct. 2018
Billing Clinic Oncologist Dr. Shin Yin Lee joined Victoria Hill on Friday morning at the Q2 Pink Breakfast to discuss the importance of breast cancer screening and new developments in treatment.
KTVQ Story by Andrea Lutz - Oct. 2018
There is a new glimmer of hope for some women battling an aggressive form of breast cancer.
A newly published study found there is a new way to combined chemotherapy and medication from a patient’s own body to help fight off an aggressive form of breast cancer.
Story by Brett French (Billings Gazette) - Oct. 2018
At the age of 20, Allen Haberman’s older sister died from complications of cystic fibrosis.
Haberman, now 22, has the same disease.
“My parents are scared I’m going to end up the same way, but that’s not going to happen,” he said.
Q2 story by Samantha Harrelson (MTN News) - Aug. 2018
At nearly two years old, Forest Kanode is a fighter.
His mom, Gladys Castillo-Reyes, and dad, Casey Kanode, found out when she was 28 weeks pregnant that Forest would be born with heart problems. They were told they would have to travel to a Denver hospital for his birth.
"He was born 6 pounds, 6 ounces and doing pretty well,” said Kanode. “Immediately he got taken to the cardiac intensive care unit there to keep an eye on him…he got open heart surgery at 7 days old."
Q2 story by David Jay (MTN News) - June 2018
The Great Strides Walk to raise money for cystic fibrosis research is this Saturday at Veterans Park in Billings.
The proceeds from the event will go to help patients like 9-year-old Jonathan Mitchum of Billings, who must go through a combination of therapies every day.
Jonathan has seen Dr. Jerimiah Lysinger, Billings Clinic cystic fibrosis center director, for the last several years.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Story by Lewis Kendall - May 2018
Not many people can say they got married and gave birth on the same day.
But that’s exactly what happened last week, when Sadie Huber was married in a room in Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital while going into labor.
Gazette Story by Susan Olp - Apr. 2018
People at risk for diabetes can take steps to decrease their chance of developing the disease.
According to the American Diabetes Association, nine out of 10 Americans who are most at risk for type 2 don’t know they are at risk.
In Montana, 279,000 people, or 36.4 percent of the adult population, have pre-diabetes, the ADA said, meaning their blood glucose levels are higher than normal.
Q2 Story by Jenny Fick (MTN News) - Feb. 2018
February is Heart Disease Awareness Month. Heart Disease is the leading cause for men and women. One in four Americans die yearly from heart disease.
"We have a lot of expensive medications that we could use, and we do sometimes but the best thing that people can do actually to treat heart disease is just lifestyle modifications..."
Gazette Story by Susan Olp - Feb. 2018
Located in the remodeled northwest corner of the hospital’s Psychiatric Center, the 3,500-square foot unit brings with it a new philosophy of how to help patients grappling with mental health emergencies.
The new unit is light and airy, with windows to look out and colorful Michael Sample photographs of outdoor scenes decorating many of the walls. The addition includes two large rooms, one that can hold a dozen adults and the other, separate space for up to five youths.
Q2 News Story by Victoria Hill (MTN News) - Feb. 2018
Since the introduction of television, parents have been regulating screen time.
Around the 1990's, the popularity of home computers grew, and now there's tablets and smart phones.
That's where Generation Alpha comes in, known as the generation born with an iPad in its hand.
Q2 News video - Jan. 2018
Billings Clinic's Dr. Justin Bottsford-Miller. Dr. Bottsford-Miller speaks on the importance of screenings, and on causes, treatments, and things to be aware of.
Q2 story by Samantha Harrelson - Dec. 2017
Santa Claus took a break from toy shop during the busiest time of the year to bring a little holiday cheer to the kids at Billings Clinic.
For lots of kids who are sick or stuck in the hospital during the holidays, a visit to Santa at the mall isn't always an option. Thankfully, the man himself knows a thing or two about going the extra mile to help kids out during the holiday season.
Q2 News story - Dec. 2017
Button batteries can pose a serious health risk and even cause death.
Dr. Patricia Notario of Billings Clinic explains:
Gazette story by Susan Olp - Dec. 2017
“Cold weather constricts the blood vessels and then with the work of shoveling snow, it puts an increased demand on the heart,” said Kierra Knox, Chest Pain Clinic coordinator at Billings Clinic. “And that’s when people can get signs and symptoms of a heart attack.”
With the next possible shot at moisture in southeast and southcentral Montana a week or more away, it’s probably not too early to think about how to be smart when it comes to scooping up copious quantities of wet, heavy snow.
Gazette story by Susan Olp - Oct. 2017
Soft-spoken, his words tinged with a thick Oklahoma drawl, Tom Watters sat next to his wife, Linda, Thursday in a Billings Clinic exam room and told a harrowing tale.
How on a hunting trip a year ago in the Bull Mountains, shrapnel from an accidental rifle shot pierced his brain and left him critically injured.
KULR story by David Kaplan - Oct. 2017
New technology paves the way for treatment and research of breast cancer. 3-D technology allows fine details to be clearly visible for more accurate and timely breast cancer detection.
KULR story by Briana Monte - Sept. 2017
Billings Clinic is the first in Billings to offer a new pain management option for mothers going into labor. Expectant mothers now have the chance to choose an option in which they can still be in control of their bodies.
Gazette story by Rob Rogers - Sept. 2017
By the time the rain from Hurricane Harvey stopped earlier this week, many of the doctors and nurses at the Woman's Hospital of Texas had worked three or four straight days without leaving the medical center.
They were eager to see their families and check on their homes. So when a bus full of nurses and other medical professionals pulled up at the hospital on Friday to relieve hospital staff, emotions ran high.
Gazette story by Rob Rogers - Aug. 2017
By 1950, the sum of all medical knowledge doubled at a rate of 50 years. By 2010, it doubled every three and a half years. It's estimated by 2020, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, medical knowledge will double every 73 days.
As the medical community get smarter, the pressure builds for caregivers to stay current with best practices.
SWX Montana story by Jake Jones - Aug. 2017
Injury is always a risk when playing sports. There's no way to prevent that risk, but for the past four years the Billings Clinic has done everything they can to put athletes, particularly female athletes, ahead of the curve.
Gazette story by Rob Rogers - June 2017
Photo Credit: Casey Page - Gazette Staff
Capping three years of planning and work, Billings Clinic and Central Montana Medical Center in Lewistown formalized an affiliation partnership this week.
The partnership brings Lewistown's critical access hospital under the arm of Billings Clinic and allows the smaller hospital access to additional resources, training and support.
KULR8 story by Melinda Lee - May 2017
Katy Lefler is someone who knows what it feels like to hear the words "you have skin cancer."
"Five years ago, I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma," Lefler said. "I think I had a pity party when I got diagnosed like 'why me?'"
The Riverside Middle School 8th grade teacher said Billings Clinic's Dermatologist Dr. Samuel Reck helped her through her diagnosis and treatment, including surgery.
KULR8 story by KULR8 News Staff - Apr. 2017
A 6-year-old boy named Trayton has received his third infusion of a newly approved drug to fight his rare disorder called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Gazette story written by Rob Rogers - Apr. 2017
The prognosis was dire when Cheryl Grantham learned she had multiple myeloma, a rare form of cancer, in March 1999.
"I thought I'd be dead by Christmas," she said.
The best treatment to extend her life was a round of specialty high-dose chemotherapy, a course more potent than the normal chemotherapy prescribed to combat more common cancers.
Q2 story by Jeanelle Slade (MTN News) - Feb. 2017
At least 50 percent of the population will meet the criteria for mental illness or depression at some point in their lives.
It comes in many forms. The spectrum can run from mild to manic.
In fact, some people may not even realize they are living in it.
If you struggle with this pain, no matter to what extend, know there is help. It can begin with the right conversation.
Gazette story written by Jaci Webb - Jan. 2017
They weren’t all in tune, but the words a medical team sang to 17-year-old cancer survivor Will Goodridge Thursday were golden: “Pack up your things, get out the door, you don’t need chemo anymore.”
The celebration in the pediatric unit of Billings Clinic came exactly 1,205 days after Goodridge’s leukemia diagnosis in 2013. His father, Tim Goodridge, counted every one of them.
Gazette story written by Zach Benoit - Dec. 2016
After spending the last six years traveling nearly 500 miles round trip each month from Baker to Billings and back for infusions to treat their sons' rare autoimmune disorder, the Bruski family would like to help the families of other sick kids.
"We raised $1,000 in a week and a half from Baker already," said Kelly Bruski. "We just ask people if they would be willing to help."
Give to the Billings Clinic Foundation Kelker's Kids Fund.
Q2 - A Better You with Joey Traywick, RN - Dec. 2016
Joey Traywick, RN, and Billings Clinic Infectious Disease Doctor Camilla Saberhagen, MD, discuss the importance of getting a seasonal flu shot.
Q2 story by Aja Goare (MTN News) - Nov. 2016
A Billings police officer said he’s lost track of how many suicide attempts he has responded to over the years, but said there is one he won’t soon forget.
"We had a guy on the Rims that was considering jumping and we stood up there for about four hours talking to him," said Officer Tom Keightley, who has worked as a negotiator with the department for the past six years.
Q2 story by David Jay (MTN News) - Nov. 2016
After about nine months of training, Billings Clinic used the Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine for the first time.
That machine saved a life and a family.
KULR 8 story written by Tracy Smith - Nov. 2016
The November movement has men growing a mustache for charity to raise awareness about men's health such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health issues like depression. For one gentleman though, awareness came in a different form: through family history.
Gazette story written by Zach Benoit - Oct. 2016
Jennifer Jodrey, a Billings Clinic mammography technologist, didn't even know she needed the training.
Performing mammograms — using low-dose X-rays to image examine the tissue of a woman's breast, most often to detect cancer — is her job, and she's been doing it daily without problems.
But it only took a day or so of training with Louise Miller, education director and co-founder of Mammography Educators, to see the difference in her work.
Gazette story written by Zach Benoit - Sept. 2016
To break the news to her two young sons that she had a case of advanced uterine cancer, Tennille Grossman explained it in a way that they not only understood, but that they loved: with superheroes.
The cancer cells were "bad guy germs" that had invaded her body, and a doctor was going to go in and take as many of them out as she could. But, as bad guys are wont to do, a few of them managed to hide and could multiply.
Governing.com article written by Mattie Quinn - Sept. 2016
...Progress in addressing their issues can be made by arming providers in the primary care setting with more and better mental health training.
This is an approach that Montana, which has the highest suicide rate in the country, is taking. The Billings Clinic, the largest health-care organization in the state, has been working with nurse practitioners to arm them with additional mental health training for the primary care setting. “As long as community health workers have more training, I think that’s a great substitute,” says Eric Arzubi, chair of the department of psychiatry at the Billings Clinic.
Billings Gazette article written by Jaci Webb - Aug. 2016
A big night in downtown Billings Saturday brought in more than $600,000 to address the mental health crisis.
The Billings Clinic Classic with featured band, America, drew a capacity crowd to the street party and concert at the Alberta Bair Theater. The street party and concert have become multigenerational events, presented by the Billings Clinic Foundation to raise money for health care.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Aug. 2016
More than three years and nearly $21 million of work to expand, renovate and update Billings Clinic's suite of operating rooms is nearly finished.
Designed to meet growing patient numbers, the effort increased the number of operating rooms from 10 to 13 while adding a new high-tech hybrid operating room that allows for complex treatments not available at the hospital before and new catheterization and electro-physiology laboratories.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Aug. 2016
By the summer of 2014, 17-year-old Timothy Bates had all but given up.
On a steady stream of depression medications since he was 14 and prone to self-harm that included cutting — "I loved my razor blades for a while," he said — the Wyoming teen was depressed and suicidal when he was checked into Billings Clinic's psychiatric department for a two-week stay, his second such trip in just a few months.
With other methods showing little to no improvement, staff there pitched a experimental but low-risk and low-cost approach involving sleep disruption and specialized light therapy that in limited studies had shown promise in quickly reducing depressive and suicidal tendencies.
Q2 Story by Casey Conlon (MTN Sports) - Aug. 2016
It was an early morning, and a late night, for one Hilands Golf Club foursome Friday.
"First tee shot was at 6 a.m., and it usually takes about 14 hours," assistant professional Jeff Allen told us.
And still, it's one of the Hilands' pros favorite days of the year, as they play 100 holes to help families of children battling cancer.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Aug. 2016
Inside the lobby of the Billings Clinic Psychiatric Center, just to the right of main reception desk, is a large set of heavy double doors.
They're almost always closed and locked, save for the comings and goings of staff and patients, and it might be tempting to try to imagine what's behind them: sterile white hallways, flickering fluorescent lights, sparse concrete or padded rooms, patients in frayed pajamas or straitjackets
Q2 Story by Victoria Hill (MTN News) - July 2016
Slow, continuous, gentle touches.
That's how Heidi Ann Charlton bonded with her son Bodie, who entered this world 10 and a half weeks too soon at 2-pounds, 7-ounces.
"With a normal baby, you want to rock them and pat them and rub their back and stuff. It's just too much for them. They say that it's almost painful,” Charlton said.
The Billings Clinic Neonatal Intensive Care Unit quickly became home and that's when Bodie was introduced to infant massage.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - July 2016
Working with more than 400 middle and high school athletes in the greater Billings area between them, the sports performance and training programs at Billings Clinic and Granite Health and Fitness could’ve easily continued down their separate paths.
But, earlier this summer, a year’s worth of discussions and getting to know each other’s programs instead led the clinic Orthopedics and Sports Medicine’s Sports Specific Training and Granite’s Elite Sports Performance to partner, combining their staff and resources into what they say is a more comprehensive program that better trains student-athletes in the region while helping to prevent injury.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - May 2016
All too often, patients in psychiatric crisis end up in a hospital emergency room where they have to wait sometimes for hours to receive care.
With that in mind, Billings Clinic announced Monday that its Clinic Classic fundraiser would go toward expanding its psychiatric department while building a new psychiatric stabilization evaluation unit that would get patients out of the emergency department and in front of psychiatric health workers who can better meet their needs.
Q2 video by Victoria Hill - May 2016
The first Monday in May is observed as Melanoma Monday, which is designed to raise awareness of skin cancer.
Dr. Michelle Spenny, a dermatologist at Billings Clinic, stopped by Montana this Morning to talk about the risks.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Apr. 2016
Had Dr. Erin Grantham not been hired by Billings Clinic last year, things might have turned out much worse for baby Brylon Harrell.
At just eight weeks old, the boy underwent a significant surgery to repair a combined and painful hernia and testicular torsion that would have, without quick treatment, otherwise left him with lifelong damage and then had a second hernia fixed several weeks later.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Apr. 2016
Nearly 40 percent of the 315,000 Montanans who should be screened for colorectal cancer either aren't doing so or aren't getting it done properly.
With that in mind, the Montana Department of Health and Human Services aims to cut that percentage in half.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle article written by ARINA BILLIS - Apr. 2016
Twenty-two years ago, Mark Poertner was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer in his bone tissue. Doctors gave him a 1-in-5 chance of survival.
He beat those odds, but during his rigorous treatment for Ewing’s sarcoma, Poertner became infertile.
Q2 Story by Pat Gooden (MTN News) - Mar. 2016
As Spring kicks in early this year, you not only need to think about taking care of your plants, but you might also be feeling an early bout with allergies.
Experts share what you can do right now for both your plants and your health.
The unseasonably warm weather and lack of moisture is causing allergy concerns for many, and also begs the question: Is it too soon to pull out your garden tools and water your plants?
Q2 Story by Aja Goare (MTN News) - Feb. 2016
Every 25 minutes across the U.S., a baby is born suffering from withdrawal, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The nation’s most innocent beings, newborn babies, are experiencing drug addiction in utero, at an alarming rate.
Q2 Story by Pat Gooden (MTN News) - Feb. 2016
Depression is a condition that affects millions of Americans and is common among patients seen in primary care.
Still, many people suffer with it in silence, and now a government task force is tackling the issue with a new recommendation for pregnant and postpartum women.
"I would have anxiety attack and I wouldn't know why I was upset or why I was sad, or why I was crying, why I didn't want to leave the house," recalled mother of a 10-month-old, Brianna Overbey.
Billings Gazette article written by Mike Kordenbrock - Feb. 2016
An overpopulation of squirrels in 1999 led to a series of big wins for a then-Billings West High senior, who would later return to her hometown a full-fledged pediatrician.
Erin Allen, formerly Erin Murphy, returned to Billings last fall with her husband, Nathan Allen, an emergency room doctor, and their three children. Now, she and her husband work for the same hospital that runs the Billings Clinic Science Exposition — the science competition she took first place at in 1999.
KULR 8 story by Tracy Smith - Feb. 2016
The science expo helps educate youth about science and engineering covering 24 counties in Montana.
In 1999 Dr. Erin Allen, a Pediatrician with Billings Clinic, won the expo. She said it was a huge stepping stone for her career in medicine.
Billings Gazette article written by Susan Olp - Jan. 2016
Bright colors, lots of natural light, whimsical paintings, a touch of nature and interactive electronics all play a part in the new Bob and Penni Nance Pediatric Unit that was unveiled at Billings Clinic.
A large crowd was on hand for the open house and ribbon-cutting on the second-floor of the east wing. Visitors enjoyed a tour of the seven large private rooms, including one dedicated to patients with cystic fibrosis.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Dec. 2015
With patients like Casey in mind, the Billings Clinic Foundation is launching on Dec. 1 a fundraising effort called the Let Your Love Glow campaign to raise $250,000 in 25 days to move and expand its Pediatric Infusion Center, which provides intravenous infusions for youth fighting various illnesses.
The center helps youth in their treatment for a wide range of illnesses, including cancer, Crohn's disease and a variety of blood and immune system disorders.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Nov. 2015
Growing up, Diane Kylander noticed that her mother's hands would shake but didn't think much of it.
Now 72, the Billings performer and writer for decades figured it was just something that happened later in life, until it began happening to her, too.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Oct. 2015
On Oct. 7, Christina Idukas shared a bit of encouraging news with the Billings Clinic epileptologist who’s been treating her for seizures that have plagued her for 20 years.
“I haven’t had any seizures since before July,” she said. “That’s the first time in 20 years that has happened.”
Dr. Marie Collier, the epileptologist, responded by grinning and holding up her hand, followed by an enthusiastic demand for a high five and the two women slapping palms.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Oct. 2015
Fifteen nurses and doctors are spending the week in Billings learning how to better understand, identify and address sexual assault cases involving children.
The five-day session is hosted by Billings Clinic and has brought in medical professionals from across Montana, and one from Missouri, to the Center for Children and Families for Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner training.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Oct. 2015
In order to meet a huge bump in patient numbers over the past 10 years, Billings Clinic’s urology department is undergoing a near-complete $1 million expansion and has doubled its staff.
“Everything about us has doubled, at least,” said Dr. Lisa Bland, a urologist at the hospital. “Our space has more than doubled and will all have a big impact on access for patients.”
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Sept. 2015
Had Jim Ryan had his knee replacement surgery even a year ago, the first day or so of his recovery could’ve been very different.
There’s no pharmacy in Jordan, where he lives, and he probably would’ve had to find a pharmacy in Billings to get his prescriptions filled after being discharged from Billings Clinic, not to mention finding a place to go for refills.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Sept. 2015
Over the past three or so years, Billings Clinic patients have been gaining access to a growing number of online and mobile services aimed at improving their care while cutting through some of the frustrating wait times that can come with navigating the health care system.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Aug. 2015
When TJ Hanes, 51, went out to a local shooting range on Memorial Day, he’d been fighting for a few days with what he thought was heartburn.
But it didn’t take long for him to realize it was a precursor to something much more serious: a major heart attack.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - July 2015
As a nurse in Billings Clinic’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Chelsea Heine knew breast milk’s health benefits for infants and was keenly aware of the need for it in NICUs.
So when her son, Kane, now 2, was born late preterm and had trouble gaining weight from feeding, she quickly began to pump and save milk for her son and soon after realized she could help others along the way.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - June 2015
Alex Laas, 13, has lived with cystic fibrosis for his entire life.
The aspiring young screenwriter who’s already created a short film that aired at a Billings film festival last year attends school and chases his hobbies with aplomb, like any other boy his age.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - June 2015
With the help of Yale University and nine other like-minded hospitals, Billings Clinic hopes that an ongoing research project will help improve care for heart attack patients across the country.
Called Leadership Saves Lives, the two-year project is run by Yale’s Global Health Leadership Institute and looks at the organizational culture and structure of Billings Clinic and nine other hospitals across the country and how it relates to and can affect acute myocardial infarction care.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Apr. 2015
For two years, Scott Wildung experienced daily pain, bleeding and other issues from what turned out to be an overgrown, flat and pre-cancerous polyp in his rectum.
But when he woke up at Billings Clinic on Dec. 11, 2014, after the anesthesia wore off from a newly developed and minimally invasive procedure to remove the polyp, that all changed right away.
Billings Gazette article written by Zach Benoit - Feb. 2015
As he sat in a hospital bed at Billings Clinic on Wednesday afternoon, Aaron Johnson chuckled as he acknowledged how differently things could have ended up. His arms and neck were free of tubes for the first time since undergoing a life-saving procedure Feb. 7 to repair a torn aorta.
“I feel lucky,” the 26-year-old said. “I feel like if everybody wouldn’t have played their part, it would’ve been a different story.”
Billings Gazette article written by Nick Balatsos - Jan. 2015
Doug Vezey got off work early on Halloween last year. It was supposed to be a quiet weekend.
While he waited for his wife to get home from NAPA Auto Parts, where they have both worked for years, Vezey took their dog, a Chow named Buster, for a walk.
They made it a couple blocks when he heard the roar of an engine as it accelerated through an intersection and then a crash.
