Kalispell Regional Healthcare is partnering with a Billings doctor to establish the only children’s cancer clinic in western Montana.
Dr. Carrie Neuhardt, a pediatric specialist in hematology and oncology in Billings the past three years, is moving to Kalispell this summer to start up a new pediatric program and clinic through Kalispell Regional Healthcare.
The goal is to open the clinic by the middle of August and begin seeing patients soon after, she said.
Neuhardt said she hopes to grow the clinic into a full-service program that can provide the wide variety of cancer treatments.
“It’s one of the very few regions that has minimal access to care locally,” she said.
“As soon as you get the right hospital that’s willing to help it grow, like Kalispell, I think you can build something that is tremendous and will have a lasting impact on the whole community.”
The only city in Montana with a hospital that can treat children with cancer is Billings. The closest hospital to the Flathead Valley that can treat pediatric cancer patients is in Spokane.
“There’s a huge need in the state overall, specifically in that western part,” she said.