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Ronan clinic expansion will bring full primary care and pharmacy services

The Ronan Tribal Health Center in Ronan, MT.
Ronan Tribal Health Center
The Ronan Tribal Health Center in Ronan, MT.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes say nearly $2 million in federal funding it recently received will expand services at a newly built medical clinic and pharmacy in Ronan.

The CSKT clinic in Ronan, which will soon offer full primary care and pharmacy services, replaces an old clinic that offered immunization services for children.

The tribes last week received $1.9 million to pay for an expansion from a federal program that gives companies tax credits in exchange for donations that will be invested in low-income communities.

CSKT member services director, Patricia Hibbeler, said the money will allow the clinic to offer drive-through services for the pharmacy and build a physical therapy and community fitness space, which are programs previously cut from the plans.

“We’re excited about this project because it means we get to expand into some of those areas that we had actually taken off of the plan due to cost of construction,” Hibbeler said.

Hibbeler says the construction on that expansion is expected to begin shortly after the main clinic and pharmacy open and will be complete in early 2024.

That main clinic is expected to open in May.

Aaron graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism in 2015 after interning at Minnesota Public Radio. He landed his first reporting gig in Wrangell, Alaska where he enjoyed the remote Alaskan lifestyle and eventually moved back to the road system as the KBBI News Director in Homer, Alaska. He joined the MTPR team in 2019. Aaron now reports on all things in northwest Montana and statewide health care.
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