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Lt. Gov. Angela McLean, left, listens as dentist Colt Sweeten describes the new facilities at Bullhook Community Health Center Wednesday. The clinic offers medical and mental health services and a sliding fee scale for charges, as well as accepting insurance. Along with providing services, the clinic has helped to add jobs to the local economy.
In a tour of Havre's newest medical facility in the midst of National Health Center Week, Lt. Gov. Angela McLean praised the work to get Bullhook Community Health Center up and running.
"It's really quite a story of perseverance to make it happen," McLean said Wednesday during the tour.
With its ribbon cutting set for Friday, the new facility opened in July, nine years after Bullhook first opened as a part of the Hill County Health Department. After reorganizing as an independent nonprofit entity, the clinic then moved to a new location in a space leased from Northern Montana Hospital, and later added dental services in a space in the Atrium Mall.
In 2011, the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Human Services awarded Bullhook $4.95 million to move its services into one location, allowing the use of a patient-centered medical home model, with all health care providers coordinating efforts for a patient's care. The money was from a pool set aside for community health centers through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare.
Bullhook leveraged that into $7.2 million using new market tax credits through Montana Community Development Corp. in Missoula and US Bank and Bear Paw Development Corp. and the Great Falls Development Authority loans.
HRSA awarded Bullhook another $250,000 this year through the Affordable Care Act to use in expanding its mental health services.
Bullhook CEO Cindy Smith gave McLean a full tour of the facility, describing different parts of the building and introducing her to members of the staff and medical providers. State Sen. Greg Jergeson, D-Havre, the only other official on the tour, accompanied McLean through Bullhook.
McLean, who attended a health safety fair at Montana State University-Northern Wednesday morning, said she was very impressed with the new clinic.
"It's incredible what you have going on here ... ," she said. "This is powerful ... This is really great. You guys have a lot of great things happening here in Havre."
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