Remembering 45 Years of Progress

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley-Swan Medical Center opened its doors to the community and hosted a 45th anniversary birthday celebration June 30. Attendees had the opportunity to meet the current staff, members of the Seeley-Swan Hospital District (SSHD) and Seeley-Swan Medical Center Foundation (SSMCF) boards and staff from Partnership Health Center (PHC), the current provider at the clinic. Founding nurse and director of the S.O.S. Center Wilma Nicholson was remembered along with many other stories shared.

The S.O.S. Health Center was the first facility in Seeley Lake. S.O.S. was not the acronym for help, but instead was for the communities the clinic served: Seeley Lake, Ovando and Swan Valley. Prior to 1971, there was no place in the valley for medical care with the exception of occasional visits by nurses from Missoula.

Nurse Practitioner Wilma Nicholson, hired in 1971, was the first director of the S.O.S. Center. She called herself a Community Health Nurse because she did not have a supervising doctor above her at the clinic. Nicholson worked out of a cabin at what is now Montana Pines and made house calls. "Wilma Nicholson was the S.O.S. Center," said SSHD board member Mary Ann Morin.

Nicholson used an OB table as an exam table. Seeley Lake resident Sandi Doucett, the first clerk hired at the health center, saw the irony in the OB table because the only thing Nicholson said she would not do was deliver a baby. In mid-January, the day came when she delivered a baby in a Volkswagen Bug going around Salmon Lake.

"If the mother would have been as nervous as the nurse, we never would have made it," said Nicholson in a Dec. 16, 1979 Missoulian article.

"It took her two weeks to get over that," said Doucett. "It was a good thing it wasn't the mother's first child."

Nicholson's daughter Shelly Baumgardner said she remembers her being determined to learn how to get fish hooks out. She eventually learned that she needed to cut the barb off and then slide it out.

Baumgardner said that she does not think people realize how much her mom worked.

"She was on call 24 hours per day [including holidays]. We would all be sitting down to dinner at Christmas and there would go mom, off to help someone. It was just constant," said Baumgardner. "She truly wanted to help people and her patients felt that they were getting good care."

In the Missoulian article, Nicholson said that she was "married to that darn phone." She made sure people knew where she was and how to reach her.

Until 1976, a 1959 Cadillac hearse was used as the ambulance.

Roger Johnson was a volunteer driver for the hearse. He shared the story of an injured logger who had broken his leg. He convinced Nicholson that it was faster to take the road over the Jocko to get to Missoula that taking the highway. The Jocko, while a shorter distance, is not a well-maintained road making for a very bumpy ride.

"Never did remember how that poor fellow made out but they never called me again to drive the ambulance," Johnson said.

Nicholson quickly outgrew the motel room and knew she needed a more modern medical facility. Doucett said that Nicholson saw a blurb in the Missoulian advertising a revenue sharing program. She applied for it. Because of the number of patients and variety of cases, the board of directors and Missoula County Commissioners awarded the funds in 1972 and created a special hospital district to provide the necessary tax base.

"[Nicolson] went door-to-door to get the petition signed for the district," said Doucett. "We wouldn't have the clinic now if she wouldn't have [applied for the funding and gotten community support]."

The SSHD was the first special hospital district in the state. The new clinic was built in 1974 on S.O.S. Road off of Morrell Creek Drive.

"We aren't just a clinic, we are a hospital district," said SSHD board member Mary Ann Morin.

Morin has been on the Seeley-Swan Hospital District board since 1994. She said she agreed to serve to do her "civic duty" only to be told at her first meeting that the district was $70,000 in debt and Missoula County gave them 30 days or the county would shut the clinic's doors. She said the community rallied and the clinic remained open.

In December of 2000, the newly built Seeley-Swan Medical Center along Highway 83 opened for business. The SSHD and SSMCF completed their most recent expansion in 2015 including covered handicap parking, three dental operatories and lab, behavior health offices and an update to the reception area to meet new privacy requirements. The conference room, staff offices, break room and reception area were also enlarged and updated.

SSMCF President Tim Love emphasized that the community has always owned the clinic. While there have been different providers operating out of the clinic, the district owns the land, the building and the lot to the south of the medical center.

"The clinic means everything to this community, especially as the community gets older," said Doucett. "It is a good place to be able to come."

Baumgardner added, "I think Mom would be really proud [of how far the Seeley-Swan Medical Center has come]. She would love this facility."

The foundation and district boards are looking toward the future, hoping to one day offer a health care campus. While the SSMC already provides medical, behavioral health and dental through their provider PHC, there is hope to someday offer physical therapy, pharmacy and optometry in the same location. The SSMC also continues to pursue senior housing options on the lot to the south of the clinic.

The hospital district board meets every second Monday at 5 p.m. in the Medical Center's conference room. Meetings are open to the public.

 

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