Annie Young said it was like deja vu. She was at Carroll College again and at a graduation ceremony again.

But there was a marked difference between the recent pinning ceremony and the one she attended 34 years ago.

“The senior class votes annually on who they want as a speaker for the pinning ceremony,” said Young, “I was very surprised because I totally didn’t expect it at all.”

Young, who is the trauma coordinator for the Granite County Medical Center, was chosen by the nursing students at Carroll College to be their keynote speaker at their pinning ceremony on May 6. She graduated in 1977 from the nurse baccalaureate from the college and recently has become a part-time instructor for students there. She said she was somewhat surprised by the selection since she had only seen the students one day of their four year training.

“This was the first year they were given the opportunity to take part in a rural nursing program and I guess it left a lasting impression on them because they loved it,” said Young.

The nurse explained that in the past year she has worked for the college by providing a one day experience to the students of what it is like to be a rural nurse. She said that students from the program would travel to Granite County Medical Center where she would show to them the many different parts of being a rural nurse.

“Even though it was just one day, Annie had such an impact on me and my perspective of rural nursing,” Carroll College graduate and participant in the program, Corinne Roberto told the Philipsburg Mail, “I never would have known being a nurse in a rural hospital was competitive, independent, and exciting if it hadn’t been for Annie. She is a self-starter and takes matters into her own hands without being told what to do. We only followed her for one day, but our entire class voted to have her speak at our nursing pinning ceremony in May.”

Young explained that being a rural nurse involves many duties and collaboration with many others in the hospital which she tried to encapsulate in the curriculum.

It really gave them a broad over view of what’s expected of a rural nurse,” said Young.

At the ceremony Young said that she kept her speech short and spoke on such topics as the history of nursing, the program at Carroll College, what it’s like to be a nurse in a place such as Granite County, and about trauma. Young also noted that there were about 350 people in attendance, many more then there were at the pinning ceremony Young was part of in 1977.

“I felt very welcomed, privileged,” she said, “it was fun getting to meet their families too.”

Young said that the College has chosen to renew Young’s contract for next year and more nursing students will be visiting the hospital in Philipsburg.

“I had a great experience with Annie, she not only exposed the nursing students to rural nursing but also incorporated emergency care and public health,” Carroll College graduate and participant in the program, Caitlin Rossetti told the Philipsburg Mail, “she is a prime example of that nurse who wears many hats.”

Hospital Administrator Jeff Prater pointed out the logos and text on the medical center’s vehicles across the street from his office window.

“We have a logo, but it has multiple looks to it,” Prater told the Philipsburg Mail, “I really feel that communication is very important and I think the way we communicate reflects who we are.”

After speaking with a number of staff about the multiple looks of the Granite County Medical Center’s logo the idea emerged that throughout the facility a consistency should be established which the community will recognize.

“We didn’t do it because the old logo was bad, we just want consistency,” he said.

And the logo of the medical center will soon change. Prater explained that citizens throughout the County have the opportunity to vote on one of three new brands that will represent the hospital.

The administrator said that the concept of having the public vote on the hospital’s new brand is an effort to involve the community with the facility which they support. He said that the hospital is striving to grow a deeper relationship with the community through the effort.

“This, being their being their hospital, we would like for them to be the ones who choose what our next brand is,” he said, “our goal is to create more credibility in the community.”

And branding is one of the ways that Prater said he thinks that credibility can be further established. He explained that ones the votes are in on June 10 and an new logo is decided from them and announced on June 15 the hospital will immediately begin using the new brand and phasing out the previous one. The administrator said the goal will be for total integration of the new brand within 12 months.

“As possible we’ll start to phase out the old logo and bring in the new logo,” said Prater noting some changes will happen immediately after the decision, “this to me is the start of some of the foundation for opportunities to come to the hospital.”

The new brand will be consistent throughout the medical center in their signs, vehicles, website, and advertisements.

“I think over the next year people will start to see and recognize that,” he said.

The administrator said that the three brands in the running for the hospital were selected from nine potential looks by a graphic designer that has worked branding other hospitals. Prater said the consultant offered designs and suggestions for the effort free of charge.

“The goal was to have a variety of different looks and feels to the brands,” he said.

To submit a choice for the new brand, people can visit the hospital’s website at http://gcmedcenter.org/ and vote, visit or call the hospital at 859-3223, or use the advertisement in the Philipsburg Mail and drop it off at the clinic in Philipsburg or Drummond, the Sunshine Station, or Huffman’s Grocery. Entires are due by June 10 at 5:00 p.m.

It hasn’t happened too often in the past, but sometimes when the helicopter comes in the hospital windows have cracked.

“Usually it’s just the angle they come into the helipad there and the rocks do fly,” said Sharon Fillbach, “in the past they have cracked some of the single pain windows so that will definitely be an upgrade there.”

According to the Granite County Medical Center’s (GCMC) comptroller, the hospital in Philipsburg will be receiving new double pain windows in the west part of the facility. Fillbach explained that more than fend off stray airborne rocks from helicopters, the new double pain windows will increase energy efficiency at the facility.

The windows and labor to install them came from money the hospital secured through a Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Fillbach said that the hospital applied for the federal stimulus funded grant last fall.

“There was leftover stimulus money from the Obama Administration for critical access hospitals,” she said noting that the grant was available for energy efficiency upgrades.

But before the facility could apply for they had to complete an energy audit.

“There was a short term window to get that audit and application in,” she said, “we’re always out there trying to find funding for this place and projects.”

Fillbach explained that Northwestern Energy completed the audit and gave the hospital recommendations for greater efficiency such as converting the electric dryers to natural gas, changing some light fixtures, and the replacement of the near 60 year old windows in the west section of the facility.

According to documents from the audit as well as the grant application there are six things that the hospital will do to gain greater energy efficency and reduce their consumption by 11 percent annually. According to Northwest Energy’s calculations the replacement of the windows should save the facility $1,776 per year. The conversion of the dryer from electric to gas should save the facility $4,275 per year. With the replacement of light fixtures and the addition of a vending miser on the hospital’s vending machine the total amount saved by the hospital annually will be $6,495.

Those savings would pay for the total cost of the project in 4.44 years.

But the hospital will actually see a return on the investment in the first year. The grant will be in the amount of $25,000, but the hospital will need to match those funds with $3,842 of its own money. In addition, the hospital will receive $2,60 worth of energy credits which reduces the amount the hospital must pay to $1,782 and allow the hospital pay off their contribution to the project in less a few months.

The new windows look somewhat different than the old ones and Fillbach said that should be an asset to the outside of the building.

“It’ll give it a new fresh look,” she said.

According to information provided by GCMC Administrator Jeff Prater the window project will use 284 hours of local contract labor and the cost of the windows was about $12,000 from the grant money. He added that a stipulation of the grant is that the project must be complete by August 15 which he said will happen.

“They’re going to kind of do it one window at a time so they don’t interrupt the hospital,” said Fillbach additionally noting the progress of the window installation will be weather dependent.

As for the old windows, Fillbach said that the aluminum frames and glass will be recycled through the county’s solid waste site.

A new security plan had already been devised and was slated to begin shortly when the burglars struck.

“They stole some stuff from the clinic,” related Granite County Medical Center Administrator Jeff Prater, “we got all of our stuff back … the Sheriff did a good job of assisting us.”

The theft of items from the Philipsburg Clinic (Philipsburg hospital) was not the reason that a new security policy is being put into place, but the with the addition of cameras and an improved policy of locking the doors after hours, the policy may deter future thefts.

Prater explained to the Philipsburg Mail that the new security procedures and equipment are designed to ensure safety of the facility including staff and residents when the clinic is closed and when less staff are on hand.

“The security system basically came about just as a need to make sure our patients and staff are secure 24/seven,” said Prater, “after hours was kind of where our point of penetration was.”

The administrator emphasized that the recent theft did not motivate the three-phase security upgrade and its plan was slated before the burglars struck. He added that the hospital has been for a while equipped with a building security system.

The first phase of the project which included the installation of cameras and a new policy for outside access through the emergency room door have been put into place. Prater explained that in the past the emergency room door entrance lacked a strict policy about being locked when the clinic was closed.

“They had an opportunity to be secure, there just never was a firm policy in place to keep them secure,” he said noting that the door is now automatically locked between 9:00 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.

“We had to notify the ambulance. We had to notify the Sheriff’s department. We had to notify everyone involved,” he added.

Though the door will be locked at night the nurse’s station will maintain a frequency with emergency responders and will be notified if a trauma situation occurs so they can un lock the door before responders arrive with patients.

In addition the security camera system will allow the nurse’s station the ability to see the emergency room door after hours in case some should approach it looking for help.

“Our staff that are here can monitor them during the evening hours,” said Prater about the cameras, “the people that it really impacts are the hospital night staff.”

There have also been a number of other cameras installed throughout the facility. The administrator said that the cameras record continuously and the data is stored. Those with access to view the cameras are the nurse’s station, the Information and Technology Specialist David Lee, and Prater.

The Administrator said that the cost of phase one was $200 which came out of the information and technology budget. He said that additional security upgrades slated for phase two and three will also be budgeted from the information and technology money.

“This initial piece was $200, only. We already had the infrastructure in place,” said Prater.

Phase two will involve the installation of a card reader on one of the entry ways to the hospital and equipping staff with proximity badges that have a radio frequency identification device for use after hours.

“Basically if someone enters the building, all they have to do their badge in front of the reader,” said the Administrator.

Phase three will involve the addition of more cameras throughout the interior of the facility as well as some around the exterior of the building.

“The cost of the cameras is dependent on the amount of coverage we’re going to have,” said Prater noting there has been no cost set yet for phase two or three.

“We haven’t had any negative reaction,” he said.