August 19, 201941Big Sky just outside Glendive, Mont.
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THE MENTAL HEALTH UNIT INSIDE THE
Glendive Medical Center is dark, and when
Jaime Shanks declares that a light switch
surely must be around here somewhere, a faint echo
chases the words down an empty hall.
“Here it is,” she says. The lobby flickers into clear
view. “As you can see, everything is state-of-the-art,
and it’s just a gorgeous facility.” She approaches a
window and motions to the greenery beyond. “And
isn’t this beautiful? A little courtyard you can look out
on.” She admires it for a moment. “They didn’t want
an atmosphere that felt too institutionalized. The col-
ors all around, if you notice, are very warm.”
Behind a nurses’ station, a dry-erase board says
that today is March 30. It’s actually late June. For
three months the unit has been dormant, lights out.
Shutdowns are hardly unusual; sometimes they last
years. Since its grand opening in 2002, this unit—
the only place in eastern Montana where a person
with a mental health emergency can be admitted for
inpatient care—has languished in a state of desertion
more often than not.
The problem isn’t a lack of demand; Montana is
cursed with the highest suicide rate in the nation,
and it’s higher in this predominantly rural part of
the state than in any other region. During the rare
times when the unit is up and running, the supply
of incoming patients is predictably, and sometimes
frantically, consistent. The problem here is staffing.
Administrators can’t find anyone to run the place.