Beartooth Ball Infused with Purpose

As with any event, preparations are at full speed for the 26th Annual Beartooth Ball.

The venue has been chosen, Fox Fields; the caterer hired, Black Canyon Bistro; and fundraising is in full swing.

Every Beartooth Ball has a beneficiary, and this year’s cause is as timely as it is relevant to the population Beartooth Billings Clinic serves: the expansion of its outpatient infusion services.

Infusion therapy is commonly used when a patient cannot take medications orally or for treatments where an intravenous route is more effective. Examples of applied treatment includes serious infection, dehydration, gastrointestinal disease, and autoimmune disease. Though Beartooth Billings Clinic currently provides infusion therapy, the majority of our surrounding communities’ residents will drive up to an hour or more each way to find treatment. Prescribed outpatient interventions often require patients to spend a significant amount of time in skilled care, be it thirty minutes daily for 30+ consecutive days or, in some cases, patients spend up to four hours or more, per infusion.

Beartooth Billings Clinic has the devoted, well trained, and highly skilled nursing and provider staff required to best meet the outpatient needs of patients within our community, however space and capacity is limited. Data analysis indicates many of our neighbors find themselves making arduous, and often unneeded, daily commutes to Billings to receive care.

Therefore, the addition of a dedicated suite specifically designed to best service the needs of these patients will serve to greater benefit the overall wellbeing of our community, a driving force behind the exceptional care provided at Beartooth Billing Clinic. Beartooth Ball is the primary fundraiser for the Beartooth Billings Clinic Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Red Lodge-based facility. This year’s cause is one to celebrate and the Foundation is planning the evening of Sept. 16 one of true Montana merriment.The funds raised throughout the remainder of the year will lasso the Infusion Suite project as a key service of Beartooth, meeting more of the needs of the area’s population. The evening will wrap up with the ever-entertaining Dueling Pianos International Minneapolis — a first for Red Lodge. For more information on how to participate in any way at any level, please contact Linda Harris, Director of Foundation, 406 4460610.