Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center celebrates anniversary

Press release

The Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center celebrated its 10 year anniversary Aug. 8 with the theme "A Decade of Caring."

Past donors along with members of the Sletten family were there to dedicate the building in the memory of Robert Sletten, a major benefactor of the project.

The Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center is a joint venture between Northern Montana Health Care and Benefis. This center provides chemotherapy for the communities of the Hi-Line, helping to ease the burden of traveling for cancer treatments. The 10,000 square foot facility houses a linear accelerator that administers radiation therapy treatments as well as space for chemotherapy treatments.

In 2006, The Northern Montana Health Care Foundation took on the capital campaign to raise funds for the Hi-Line Sletten Cancer Center, which was expected to cost around $6 million and be completed in 2008. Their campaign was given an excellent start with a $250,000 donation from Sletten Construction of Great Falls.

Chili feeds, quilt raffles, wine galas, golf tournaments and many other activities were held along the Hi-Line in order to raise the remaining funds. While the foundation ran the campaign, it was friends and neighbors banding together to take care of their own who truly raised the funds.

The grand opening was held Aug. 8, 2008, and was very well-attended by employees of both the Sletten Construction Company out of Great Falls and Northern Montana Health Care; as well as donors.

Closed briefly due to regulatory changes in radiation oncology, the facility was renamed as the Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center when it reopened in 2015. It was at this point that Dr. Mohammed Kanaan joined the staff at Northern Montana Health Care. A hematology and oncology specialist, Kanaan began seeing patients on a daily basis at the Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center.

The 10-year Anniversary was celebrated with another reception. Miles Hamilton, chair of the Northern Montana Health Care Board, welcomed all of the attendees. After a brief history of the project, Dave Henry, Northern Montana Health Care CEO, presented Pat Sletten with a plaque commemorating the anniversary date in memory of her late husband, Robert Sletten.

Kanaan spoke briefly about the community that the Sletten Cancer Center serves. Northern Montana Health Care Foundation Board President Brent Reber concluded by thanking everyone who helped to bring the project to fruition and continue to support the mission of the facility to this day.

Christen Obresley, foundation executive director, expressed her gratefulness.

"This project would not have been possible without the dedication of this community," she said. "Our original motto was "Imagine! Believe! Achieve!" Well, we imagined it, and the Hi-Line believed in it, and we all achieved it, together."