Marketing Director for Ogden Regional Medical Center (ORMC) Craig Bielik knows how important community is to running a hospital. “There is so much service here. We have addiction treatment, behavioral and mental health services, surgery, same-day surgery, cancer treatment, imaging, a laboratory, ICU and the Family Birth Place. There’s so much we offer, it’s impossible to list everything at once,” said Bielik, who has been with ORMC for 12 years.
Founded back in 1946 by a group of Benedictine nuns from Minnesota, ORMC was originally St. Benedict's Hospital until it was acquired by the Hospital Corporation of America in the mid-1990s. But the spirit of the nuns who founded the hospital remains a part of its identity. “We have a rich tradition established by the sisters of offering healing, hope and comfort to all we serve,” said Bielik. And outstanding service to patients is what keeps the ORMC reaching for new heights in their quality of service.
“We are a level 2 Trauma Center, and we were Northern Utah’s first Level 2,” claimed Bielik. Out of five levels, one being the highest, ORMC reached Level 2 status after earning outstanding marks from the American College of Trauma Surgeons, an expensive process that includes everything from how well-trained staff are to how fully equipped the ER is. They even consider long-term outcomes—that is, how many survive and thrive after their ER treatment—in the leveling system.
A point of pride is their Alcohol and Chemical Treatment Center (ACT) for addiction counseling and treatment. Originally established in 1971 by the Benedictine nuns, it was one of the first addiction centers in the U.S. and the very first in Utah. “The sisters were very concerned about addiction and wanted to make a good program to help treat it,” said Bielik. “We expanded the program by adding a residential treatment center. Patients live there but are allowed to come and go as they please. We do have a traditional 28-day lock-in program as well. In fact, the addiction center works closely with the Behavioral Health services because, oftentimes, addiction and behavioral health go hand in hand.”
And the ORMC’s commitment to community extends far beyond their in-house treatment services. “We offer physician lectures, attend health fairs and support all kinds of community events. We participate in Christmas Village downtown and Ogden Pioneer Days. We also partner with Weber State University, Davis Applied Technology College and the Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College to train nursing and other healthcare profession students,” he said.
As for what he’d like the Weber County community to know, Bielik wants to dispel the conception that the ORMC is a small hospital: “We’re a pretty big hospital, actually, and offer almost every services that big hospitals offer. We’ve been part of the community for a long time and plan to be a part of it for a long time to come.”
