In the six years that Mary Sterhan was chief executive officer for Greater Valley Health Center, the center separated from the county, purchased Sykes Pharmacy, doubled in size and grew a $5 million budget into a $26 million one.
She said it was a feat, she said, that would have been impossible without the incredible staff and people involved with Greater Valley, a team she feels confident in once she retires at the end of the year.
“We’re here to fill gaps,” Sterhan said. The clinic will have more space to do so when they move into their new property in South Kalispell at the end of this month, she said.
Sterhan, born and raised in the Flathead Valley, went to Carroll College in Helena, graduating with degrees in business, finance and political science in 1981. After college, she stayed in Helena, where she worked with a home health care company.
It was her entrance into health care, she said, and she quickly began to appreciate the work and efforts on the backend of caring for others.
“I had some skills to bring to the table,” she said, referring to her knowledge in administration and business. “But it also fed some things for me, [like] the desire to contribute and to feel like I was helping people and interacting with people.”
Helena is where she had her son, Alex, who still lives there today with his 3-year-old daughter, Ellie Roo. But as Alex got older, Sterhan wanted to be closer to family, marking a move back to the Flathead Valley.
When Sterhan and her son moved back to the valley, she joined on as the Logan Health Home Health hospice director, entering back into a field that she was passionate about.
She turned to consulting work while her son got older in school and in 2007, she went back to work at Logan Health Whitefish, formally known as North Valley Hospital. After over a decade there, she was approached for a new job as Greater Valley Health Center’s chief executive officer.
Sterhan said that she didn’t have any experience in running a medical clinic, but upon starting at Greater Valley, she quickly realized how essential and underused the resource was. There was a lot more potential, she said.
AS A Federally Qualified Health Center, Greater Valley has provided family healthcare via medical, dental and behavioral health services in the valley since 2007. With a mission to provide exceptional patient-centered care regardless of an ability to pay, their goal is to help create a healthy community that has access to health care.
“There’s no judgment,” Sterhan said. “We take care of folks that have had really rough times in their life … and we just meet them where they’re at and try to every day help them do better and recognize that this is not always a linear process. There can be some ups and downs.”
She began her position in 2019, the same year that funding gaps in the county arose.
“We didn’t get any money, and you know, we were billing and collecting for our own services… it was a little bit of a business sitting inside of a county structure,” she said. “… [The county] set up for the structure that they need. There was nothing wrong with it; it just made it difficult to run a clinic.”
They began working on separating from the county in 2020, which came to fruition in June 2021. That was one of Sterhan’s favorite days working for Greater Valley, she said, as she saw the joy and relief among employees, who extended their patience and grace during the transition of operating as an independent organization.
From that point on, it marked a period of exciting advancements, Sterhan said.
“We just started growing because then we had the ability to do it,” she said.
One endeavor that really boosted the center was the purchase of Sykes Pharmacy in June 2022, which the center had been using as their pharmacy of choice. With revenue up thanks to the pharmacy, Sterhan and her team were able to expand specialties and doctors, including in mental health.
“We look to both the community health needs assessment and what we were hearing in the community,” Sterhan said. “We knew that behavioral health was an area that needed some focus and attention.”
WHEN STERHAN joined the Greater Valley team, there were two therapists. Today, the center is up to 15 therapists. They implemented a school-based care program, they started an intensive outpatient care unit, opened a clinic in Hungry Horse, bought a clinic in Evergreen and secured a bigger, independent location to house Greater Valley into the future.
But above all, the mission of Greater Valley is to help community members in any need. They connect people with resources such as insurance, housing services and food services. They can provide transportation, vouchers, gas cards, sleeping bags and tents.
“You really can’t take care of your healthcare needs if you don’t know where you’re going to sleep that night. You can’t really comply with your medical regime if you don’t have access to those things,” Sterhan said. “It’s probably one of the things that is most satisfying about this work, we see that whole person as our patient and have the ability, within reason, to help them or hook them up with someone who can help them.”
Moving forward, Sterhan is concerned about the impact of Medicaid changes but is confident in the staff’s ability to move Greater Valley’s mission forward.
“This is truly a team effort to everyone. It’s really about everyone feeling empowered to do the best thing for the patient. It’s about taking care of each other as well,” she said.
In retirement, Sterhan looks forward to spending more time with her son and granddaughter in Helena, traveling and continuing to invest in the community.
“Of course, we are sad to see Mary go, but we are confident that Greater Valley is in great hands with the incredible team we have who provide excellent care and support to the families and individuals in our area,” board chair Bob Lopp said in a press release.
To learn more about Greater Valley Health Center, visit greatervalleyhealth.org.