Published on June 05, 2025

New surgical unit and operations center boosts regional care at Billings Clinic

Mack Carmack, Q2 News Billings

On Thursday, Billings Clinic held two ribbon-cutting ceremonies to celebrate its two new departments, the Helmsley Surgical Intensive Care Unit and the Helmsley Regional Operations Center.

Billings Clinic aims to expand access to regional healthcare, equitable to Salt Lake City, Seattle and Denver with the two new departments.

Surgical Inpatient Care Unit

See a tour of the two new departments in the video above

The new surgical intensive care unit (SICU), once it opens, will be the first of its kind in Montana. The goal of a SICU is to provide exceptional care to patients with traumatic injuries.

"This is a game changer for the state of Montana and Wyoming, because we are now a center which can take care of any severely, traumatically injured patient," said Dr. Gordon Riha, a general surgery trauma and surgical critical care physician at Billings Clinic.

According to Riha, before creating the SICU at Billings Clinic, patients with severe traumatic injuries would be sent to larger cities with higher levels of medical care, such as Denver and Seattle.

"We have been working for the past eight to 10 years on Level 1 Trauma Center verification. And within that 'pie in the sky' idea of our own surgical intensive care unit as well," Riha said Thursday.

Billings Clinic received its Level 1 Trauma Center verification in 2023. It was the first hospital in Montana to do so. After receiving that verification, Billings Clinic began a $32 million capital campaign to expand accessible healthcare to rural Montana and Wyoming.

That campaign includes the new SICU and operations center, a future expanded emergency room, Montana's first surgical residency rotation program, and the MedFlight program.

The new Helmsley Surgical Intensive Care Unit and the new Helmsley Regional Operations Center were funded in part by the Billings Clinic Foundation and a $12 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

The Helmsley Charitable Trust, according to trustee Walter Panzirer, has five major programs, including a rural health program.