Roundup Memorial Healthcare Clinic Employee Spotlight

1. What is your official title and responsibility with Roundup Memorial Healthcare?

My official title is Valeri Russell PA-C. I am a medical provider and like all of us, work in the clinic, hospital, ER, and extended care. I am also the trauma medical director for our facility.

2. Do you have any long term goals in mind for the healthcare facility?

I have two long term goals for RMH. The first goal would be for our clinic and hospital to be utilized by a majority of the community for their healthcare. We would do this by proving that we offer safe, affordable, and reliable healthcare to our community members. My second goal would be to build our hospital services so that we can safely bring patients in to rehabilitate and care for them without having to rely on the larger hospitals in Billings as much.

3. What are the biggest challenges you face at our local healthcare facility?

The biggest challenge with any rural health facility is lack of resources. This includes both number of staff members available to provide care and services as well as monetary resources that inhibit growth at times.

4. How is the hospital working with the community to face the challenges of the opioid crisis in our area?

As a hospital and clinic we have a very good relationship with our local pharmacy to try and help with the opioid crisis. They help us track and monitor our prescriptions and in turn we comply with national and state regulations on how much and how often we prescribe opioids. We also work outside our own community with the pain clinic in Billings to ensure that patients that do need opioids are using a specialist that can keep them on the correct dosing and work to prevent misuse of medications. The system still has a long way to go and lots of work to do but we do our best to try and keep the community safe.

5. What is your favorite thing about Roundup?

I was born and raised here in Roundup and by far my favorite thing is the people in this community. There are very few places where you can find honest and friendly people. My husband (Justin )and I left Roundup to pursue our educations but knew that we would return here to raise our children ( Tyler, Alex, and Samantha) in the same community that helped support us so much.

6. Do you have any special hobbies or interests outside of work?

I enjoy the outdoors and try and spend time with my family camping and hunting. I also enjoy watching sports ( Go Gonzaga) and we do our best to support the local athletics as well. Otherwise, most of my time away from work is spent with my family simply spending time together.