Long Term Care
A Bigfork Valley Community
Tamarack Lodge offers 24/7 skilled nursing services in a homelike environment for geriatric and long term care and short term rehabilitation. The Lodge is connected to the main hospital facility which offers a medical clinic, specialty clinic, pharmacy, chiropractic, rehab, emergency room, acute care and surgical services.
The philosophy of Tamarack Lodge is elder-centered care. Tamarack Lodge staff pays attention to the physical, emotional and spiritual health of each elder.
Tamarack Lodge strives to make every day meaningful to each individual. Elders have access to planned activities, small dining rooms, spa bathing, day trips, the beauty shop, computers, chapel and church services, gardens and, most importantly, choices in how they spend their day.
A caring staff includes certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, a full-time social worker, housekeeping and dietary staff, activities staff and volunteers.
Our staff is trained and educated on working with elders with dementia. We provide annual dementia care training to direct care staff that explains Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, assisting with activities of daily living, problem solving with challenging behaviors and communication skills.
Tamarack Lodge is a V.A. contract facility.
Our Notice of Nondiscrimination and Accessibility can be found here.
Click here for a photo tour of Tamarack Lodge.
Services
Medical services include:
- Skilled nursing
- Wound care
- Administering medications
- Nursing rehab
- Hospice
Additional services include:
- Activities
- Bathing
- Dietary
- Housekeeping
- Laundry
- Validation therapy
- Chapel services
- Facility pets
History
In 1999, Bigfork Valley made a commitment to transform long term care to the Eden Alternative®—a new philosophy which sought to combat hopelessness, helplessness and loneliness that can be part of nursing home living. It was a bold decision at the time; to move from a medical model to a social model of care. In a medical model, staff jobs are clearly defined and residents are kept to a schedule. In a social model, life decisions are brought closer to the elder. The elder decides his or her own schedule whenever possible. The facility becomes more of a home with pets, plants and gardens to care for.
Our long term care facility became a destination for many interested in following our example, and today many other facilities have moved toward a social model. Since then, new and progressive practices have been added that add to a positive and healthy homelike environment. Bigfork Valley has developed and now uses its own elder-centered model of care.