U.S. News and World Report has named Providence St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula the best hospital in Montana for the second year in a row.

Reached at her office in Missoula on Tuesday, Chief Executive of Providence Montana Joyce Dombrouski was justifiably proud of the distinction.

“We were named the number one hospital in Montana for the second year in a row,” said Dombrouski. “It’s a wonderful honor and I feel privileged to serve in this organization. Here we are in the midst of this pandemic and yet we’re still providing the quality care that we’ve always provided and it was recognized again.”

Dombrouski said they are meeting the challenge of serving COVID 19 as well as their regular patients, while keeping staff and patients safe.

“In terms of the challenge, we’ve always provided great care and safe care, but COVID has really impacted our operations in a way that we could never have predicted,” she said. “At the same time we didn’t want individuals thinking that they should not come in and be worried about their own safety, and so we’ve been very visible and very consistent in our safety practices.”

Dombrouski laid a great deal of the credit for being named Montana’s best hospital at the feet of the doctors, nurses, clinicians, techs and the entire staff.

“We’ve been very successful in caring for the few COVID patients that we’ve had admitted, as well as all the patients that we serve every day,” she said. “It is a challenge, though, and I think part of the leadership role that I and the other leaders here is to really stay supportive of our staff that can easily become fatigued in this high intensity environment.”

U.S. News ranked Providence St. Patrick Hospital as “high performing” in aortic valve surgery, hip and knee replacement, and pulmonology.

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