From Mid-Century to Modern
North Tower evolves for a new era of enhanced patient care.
An extensive North Tower renovation project is underway to bring the building from mid-century to modern with a smarter lobby layout for better wayfinding, new energy-efficient windows in patient rooms, a café adapted to today’s needs, sufficient IT space, and more.
Follow this page for updates and to follow along with the project's timeline.
Work Currently In Progress
North Tower Entrance 1 Reopens!
The North Tower lobby is now open! With this, Entrance 1 will also reopen, allowing patients direct access to the North Tower once again. Visitors can use Entrance 1 to get to Surgery Reception and Waiting, the Laboratory, and North Tower patient rooms. The North Tower entrance to the Papoose Rattler Memorial Native American Welcoming Center has also reopened. Learn more about the project below.
Cafe Closure
The Café is closed for renovations. This phase of the project is projected to last through mid-October.
While the Café is closed for renovations the BeneBites food truck will be available for meals. It is parked on East Campus outside the Concourse between the North and South Towers. It will offer breakfast from 6:30 a.m.-10 a.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m.-10 a.m. on weekends, along with lunch and dinner options from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. seven days a week. You'll need to place your order through a kiosk (located in the Concourse hallway) or the Thomas To Go app. Benefis badge pay and credit cards will be accepted as payment.
In addition to the BeneBites food truck, guest food trucks will also be available beginning April 1 and continue through Sept. 30.
The guest trucks plan to be open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. near the North Tower. A portion of the proceeds from the guest food trucks will benefit Benefis Foundation.
Medical Unit 800 Moves to Floor 3 of North Tower
Crews will begin renovating Floor 8 on June 1. During this construction, Medical Unit 800 will move to Floor 3 and be renamed Medical Unit 300. Construction on Floor 8 is expected to last until the end of October.
Recently Completed Projects
North Tower Lobby and Entrance
The North Tower lobby and Entrance 1 have reopened, allowing patients direct access to the North Tower.
The North Tower lobby and entrance closed last year as part of the extensive renovation of the 60-year-old building. The new lobby has a smarter layout that will better help patients and visitors find their way. This includes moving Information, Medical Records, and financial navigators to the front near the entrance.
Visitors can use Entrance 1 to get to Surgery Reception and Waiting, the Laboratory, and North Tower patient rooms. The redesigned grand staircase will better direct guests to the second floor to reach these areas.
The North Tower entrance to the Papoose Rattler Memorial Native American Welcoming Center has also reopened, with a beautiful mural pointing the way.
The entrance doors to the North Tower will be open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. For after-hours access, use South Tower Entrance 2. The lobby will not have access to the Concourse when it opens, as construction on the Cafe is ongoing. That project is expected to last until mid-October. When the Cafe reopens, the North Tower entrance door hours will be extended to 7 p.m. as they were before construction.
South Tower Renovations
While big changes are underway at Benefis East Campus as we take the North Tower from mid-century to modern, the South Tower got a few updates as well.
Plans included a renovation and expansion of the coffee shop, along with changes to the gift shop to help create a more efficient use of the space on Floor 1.
Coffee Fountain
The South Tower coffee shop is back in business after a temporary closure to renovate the space.
The Coffee Fountain features expanded seating in what was formerly the gift shop. In addition to extra seating, the Coffee Fountain has extended hours and will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. You'll find pastries and a large selection of grab-and-go items in addition to a wide variety of specialty drinks.
Gift Well
The gift shop has reopened in its new South Tower location. Gift Well offers new items and old favorites. It is open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Just as medical advancements didn't happen overnight, neither will these updates. This project is expected to last well into 2026, and we appreciate your patience as we go from mid-century to modern! For the latest updates, visit this page and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
North Tower evolves for a new era of enhanced patient care.
The roots of what became Benefis Health System date to 1892 and five Catholic Sisters setting up a hospital in an unfinished 30-foot-by-60-foot wood frame building with a door across two sawhorses to serve as a table. The Sisters got to work furnishing the four rooms with contributions from the townspeople.
“We had a need of everything, and we had nothing,” one Sister described.
The Methodists soon launched their own venture with a 20-bed hospital in 1898. Both the Columbus Hospital and Montana Deaconess Medical Center grew and evolved with the city, merging in 1996 to become Benefis.
In 1957, leaders of the Montana Deaconess leadership announced plans to renovate their hospital only to find that the historic, outdated building would be harder to finance than building a new hospital. The old hospital was renovated into a nursing home, which operated until 2019.
Deaconess leaders found a 10-acre site not far from 10th Avenue South and announced an ambitious plan to build a modern hospital. Plans evolved to include 230 beds in an eight-story building, plus a five-story nurses’ residence. The price tag for this new hospital was $4.3 million, the same cost as restoration in the 2020s. Fundraising efforts brought in $500,000 from the community, combined with federal grants and a $1.25 million loan.
In 1965, the Montana Deaconess Medical Center opened amid great fanfare.
“So up-to-the-minute are the concepts of treatment carried out in the new hospital that patients will find themselves in an atmosphere pleasingly alien to traditional notions of hospitalization,” a Great Falls Tribune reporter wrote.
Among the innovations was “an intensive care unit said to be the only one of its kind” with 24-hour monitoring of vital signs with electrical devices and round-the-clock nursing. Previously, patients had to hire a private duty nurse at extra expense to have that level of care.
The new hospital had a state-of-the-art surgery department with five operating rooms. Electric beds, carpeted patient rooms for comfort and quiet (a concept long since abandoned), an electronic intercom at the nurses stations, air conditioning throughout the building, and newfangled “crash carts,” now a standard for rapid responses.
Some criticized the project as too fancy with its modern décor and equipment.
“Even you, the visitor, may be impressed with what appears to be lavishness. Let us say to you now, right at the beginning, that in this area we have been most fortunate,” a welcome guide stated, noting the hospital was built for nearly 30% less per patient bed than the average at the time.
As Benefis grew, the 1960s hospital became the North Tower of East Campus. But, healthcare has changed a lot in the more than 60 years since its construction.
That’s why an extensive North Tower renovation project is underway to bring the building from mid-century to modern with a smarter lobby layout for better wayfinding, new energy-efficient windows in patient rooms, a café adapted to today’s needs, sufficient IT space, and more.
