By PAUL OVERLIE
Liberty County Times

The Emergency Room change at Liberty County Hospital and Nursing home is almost complete. With it comes the change to a full-fledged Critical Access Facility.
Work has been on-going for many weeks, and the new emergency room is pretty much done; so is the new concrete pad outside the new emergency room doors. A few final touches are needed but the change was expected to be completely up and running, and in use, by Sunday, July 1st.
An open house is planned for the first week in August, according to Liberty County Hospital and Nursing Home CEO Ron Gleason. "Moving the oxygen lines was the most complicated and time consuming part of the job," Gleason said. "The stretchers and lights came from Benefis and Jeff Chelmo made the headboards."

There is a large medical supply room just across the hall from the ER and the new critical care rooms are spacious and well thought out. "They will be much nicer for when patients have family and friends visit," Gleason noted. They also have one room set up as an isolation room, with a fan set up negative pressure to keep contagions in the room.

All this will make the facility more efficient and better able to serve the community.
With all that is changing, the decision was made to change the name of the facility. After some discussion, the name "Liberty Medical Center" was chosen, according to Gleason.
"There will be a new Emergency Room sign on Highway 223," Gleason said. "It will be a nice sign, paid for by the Hospital Guild, and it will say Liberty Medical Center Emergency Room. We are having Montana Sign Company in Havre build the sign as they supported the trip drawing and we want to support businesses who support us."
But the new ER is only the first step. Phase two will include moving physical therapy into a much larger and nicer location in the old hospital wing and setting up the new, larger, waiting room. According to Gleason, when that is done they will have another Open House.

^{The new Emergency Room Entrance at Liberty Medical Center. - Photo by Paul Overlie}

^{The new ER was all but ready to go Thursday. - Photos by Paul Overlie}