Medical Administrator Sean Hill takes charge of County Health Facilities

As Powder River County looks to expand the breadth of health care options available for the community, while also streamlining the organizations currently in place, the county commissioners made the decision earlier this year to hire a CEO Medical Administrator.

The man hired to fill that position, Sean Hill, took charge in November. Hill has worked in Bozeman for the Gallatin County Health Department, as well as working in public health around the world – spending time in the Marshall Islands on Kwajalein Atoll, in addition to several years of public health work for a State Department contractor in Baghdad, Iraq.

Sean's years of experience in such far-flung locales should provide great experience for the vagaries of rural Montana, nevertheless Hill is used to the Rural West. He completed his undergrad work at the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, where he attained a Bachelor's degree in Animal Science. Hill then worked as a meat inspector in Wyoming, before moving to Oregon, eventually completing his graduate degrees with an MBA in Healthcare Management, and a Masters in Public Health.

Hill has a wife and daughter currently living in Eugene, Oregon, as well as two grown daughters, one in Bozeman, the other in the Air Force. Sean's wife works as a Nurse Practitioner, and is currently in Oregon due to the youngest daughter's ballet talent. Eugene hosts a ballet company which is world renowned for its training program, and the Hill's daughter has shown incredible aptitude, dancing for the company at the age of 13.

The Hills own a home in Sheridan, MT, on the lovely western slope of the Tobacco Root Mountains. Hill described the property as "home base", during an interview last week.

In his off time, Sean enjoys hockey. Hill is a long time-goaltender, and is a USA Hockey Official. He is currently looking into officiating games in Sheridan, Gillette, and Miles City – just after we spoke to Hill last week, he planned on officiating a youth tournament in Sheridan.

Hill's position at CEO Medical Administrator oversees the Powder River Manor, as well as the Medical Clinic and PT/OT program, with the stated goal of bringing the programs together as a unified county health care organization.

The goal of hiring Hill was also to look towards the future, and to make more programs available for the community. What might these other programs look like? Plans are currently in the works for a Critical Access Hospital. A Medical Advisory Board has been set up and is now meeting on a regular basis to look at the feasibility and funding for such a hospital.

A Critical Access Hospital would provide 24/7 emergency care to the community, and would likely be built onto the current Powder River Manor facility.

The planning and funding for a hospital are still very much in the infant stage, with a feasibility study in the works. This would be followed by funding, planning of the facility, building some sort of facility, and the issue of staffing taken care of. Hill said while plans are moving forward, an operational facility was still years down the road.

In the meantime, Hill is looking to improve health care opportunities within the available facilities. Some of these improvements may include offering home health visits to area residents, and providing durable medical goods to the community. Currently the county healthcare facilities have a number of goods such as crutches, walkers, and walking boots available for use. These items may be provided to area residents right now through a rent/lease/provider type arrangement.

Hill is looking into developing specialized care needs for the community, potentially bringing in a radiology technician and lab tech, and having a dentist come to Broadus on a regular basis.

A short-term goal is to make sure all county health care employees have their own email accounts, bringing everyone onto the same page, so information may be disseminated quickly and efficiently to all employees.

"We're looking to improve our health care system and change perspectives on what we offer to the community. At the same time, we're not going to change things simply for the sake of change," Hill commented. "Our goal right now is to get everyone going the same direction and become more efficient. We'd like to save some money while we're at it, but the plan is to put that money back into the system and offer more services to better serve our community. I'm a firm believer in not making changes unless there's a plan in place, and I don't want to make plans without being able to show there's an improvement to be made towards the future."