HETTINGER - It probably will always be called "Hettinger hospital," even though it long ago took on one of those regional monikers that are less homey, if more inclusive.

It won't be long before some of the geographical descriptions of West River Health Services, a medical mainstay on the highway coming into town, will be a thing of the past.

Take Mt. Everest, example.

That's administrator Jim Long's description of the front steps leading up to the hospital's main floor.

Sure, there's a zero entry level around back in these handicap-conscious times. But people still like to come in the main door and up the steps. Infirm, carrying oxygen though they may be, making the steps is a matter of pride.

Then, there's Terry Peak.

Some might know it as a ski destination in the Black Hills, but Long uses it to describe the hilly parking situation around the health center.

An $8.5 million, two-year construction project will put Mt. Everest and Terry Peak right where they belong - at ground level.

The project will do more than that.

It will add and organize space, put clinic and outpatient services up front and center, and finally give the "hospital" the unifying, identifying front entrance it's long needed.

Hettinger is home to a vibrant health care community, unusual among rural hospitals these days with costs climbing, populations declining and services specializing beyond facilities' ability to afford the equipment, much less the staff to run it.

By deciding to invest at a time when others are struggling to remain open, the hospital board is pounding a very visible stake in the ground that says, "The future starts right here."

The hospital dates back to 1950 and has seen an addition to one side or another in every decade since, except the '90s.

The result is a labyrinth of halls, storage where it doesn't belong and people constantly in need of directions to get to the right place.

The hospital has 28 beds, and its health services consist of a home clinic and eight satellite clinics in four other counties in North and South Dakota.

West River Health Services is served by 15 doctors, of whom six are specialists and nine are family physicians, along with another 10 mid-level nurse practitioners and physicians assistants. It employs 270 people.

West River's annual revenue is in the range of $25 million, Long said.

It operates with a positive balance.

The ongoing project will add 20,000 square feet of new space, much of it devoted to what Long calls "ambulatory care," involving clinic calls and same-day surgery.

"We're investing in easy, simple, one-level access," he said. "Health care is like a bank. We need to show people that we're solid and reliable, and that's part of our message. We could have limped along the way we were, but it was not desirable."

West River Health Services recently acquired the privately owned 88-bed Hillcrest Nursing Home behind the hospital. The plan is to build a new, smaller nursing home adjacent to an existing assisted living center in another five years. Long estimates a new nursing home will cost about $15 million.

"We're planning to be here," Long said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@;westriv.com.)