Longtime Great Falls Orthopedic Surgeon Plans a Simple Retirement

After nearly 35 years of practicing orthopedics and completing thousands of surgeries, Keith Bortnem, DO, is ready to retire.

He hasn’t made any grand plans, and that’s OK. For Dr. Bortnem, retirement is a chance to slow down and truly make time for himself.

“I have four daughters and 10 grandchildren, and I want the chance to attend all the sports games and school events that I missed while I was working,” he says.

Working was an endeavor that allowed Dr. Bortnem to impact many lives. He restored mobility and eased his patients’ pain.

“I’ll especially miss my senior patients,” he says. “Getting a hug from someone who was pain-free and moving again would bring tears to my eyes.”

Dr. Bortnem was inspired to pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon after undergoing spinal surgery at age 18. He called the techniques used 50 years ago “almost barbaric.” He was in a half-body cast for three months during his recovery. And while professionally he chose to focus mostly on replacing and repairing knees and hips, he was dedicated to providing a better experience for his patients than the one he endured.

“I told myself, ‘I’m going to make things better for people.’”

At the heart of his passion for orthopedics is also a love for using tools to fix things. His father was an auto machinist, and he grew up “always trying to fix something and make it better.”

Luckily for his six grandsons at or near driving age, retirement will give him more time to work on their trucks — and enjoy the vintage Chevy trucks he has restored for himself.

But Dr. Bortnem says he will miss the operating room where he would often feel like a “little kid in a sandbox” with his tools of the trade.

He started practicing in 1992 and became a Benefis employee when the Orthopedic Center of Montana was established in 2014.

“I consider my business partners my friends,” he says. “And I will miss that camaraderie.”

There isn’t much he would change about his years practicing. He could have maybe done without being the sole on-call orthopedic surgeon on four-day holiday weekends back when he was in private practice and serving both of Great Falls’ emergency departments.

“Sometimes I didn’t sleep during those weekends,” he recalls. “I had too many broken people to take care of.”

Now Dr. Bortnem can focus on taking care of himself. His wife is a fitness enthusiast and is thrilled to have her husband as a regular walking buddy.

He also plans to work through the list of improvement and repair projects, both at home and at his cabin, that has grown longer during recent years. Road trips are also in the works.

“I was born and raised in Great Falls, but I haven’t seen and explored the whole state,” he says. “People pay good money to come to Montana to go hunting and fishing, and I plan on doing some of those things.”