Home care now closer to home

by John Dowd

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On Friday last week, Partners in Home Care held a ribbon cutting for its new office in downtown Hamilton. It can now be found in the Creamery Building, a historic location off Main Street. After opening its first office in the Bitterroot less than two years ago, Partners in Home Care CEO Corin Schneider attributes the move to meteoric growth in the company.

Partners in Home Care is a nonprofit organization that provides numerous services, including home health, hospice, palliative care, infusion therapy, home medical equipment, home and community-based services and soon more. The organization was founded in 1987 and it is the largest home care service in western Montana.

Schneider spoke about the relocation, saying they opened the new location only 1.5 years ago, but quickly outgrew that space. It has main hubs Ronan and Missoula. However, its service area is vast, covering much of the western part of the state, including Ravalli County.

Schneider said they have been so positively received in the Bitterroot Valley and have grown so much that it just made sense to move to a more central location and to transition into a larger office. “It’s been a significant and wonderful growth,” said Schneider.

For Schneider and others, this will help them provide a higher level of care for the patients they already have throughout the valley. “It has been really nice to bring our clinic services to patients in the Bitterroot after all these years,” said Schneider.

Most of their patients are 65 years old and up, but their organization is built to serve people of all ages, and it has service lines for everything from pediatric to elderly care. The new location in Hamilton is primarily a sleep therapy clinic that serves around 500 patients in the valley. The new space will now also provide a support facility for more south-valley customers and the organization’s over 40 clinicians throughout the valley. According to Schneider, this means those patients will not have to come all the way to Missoula to service their equipment.

Dyanna Canavan, a business development manager with Partners in Home Care, added that all the nonprofit’s service lines support each other, and “I truly think we’ll be expanding in a few years.” She highlighted that just because this is a sleep clinic, does not mean that will be all it supports in the area, as far as their services go.

Canavan also spoke about the sleep clinic’s upgrades, saying that traditional sleep therapy, or CPAP, is difficult to get working at home without help. This new space includes state-of-the-art equipment and takes comfort into account. That way, they can adjust and address any issues that may come up for the customer at home when using their equipment. She added that the creation of the space really was a community effort, noting that even the paintings displayed in the office were donated by the local painter.

Both Canavan and Schneider described the space as “clinical, but comfortable” and “relaxing, like being at home.” For them, that is important for their mission.

To speak to that importance was Partners in Home Care Registered Nurse, Rose Larson. Larson worked out of the previous Bitterroot office and will now be based in the new one. She said she is excited for the change. According to her, the new space will only further their mission and allow them to better care for their patients. She also happened to be selected for the Missoulian’s outstanding nurses for 2026, landing in the top ten. She will be featured during National Nurses Week.

According to her, “We don’t just dispense machines.” Her job is much more than that, and she compared it more to being a guide through a process. “It’s so much just to get used to the physical aspect,” said Larson, talking about the masks and equipment involved. Much of her job is helping people learn, not just how to use their equipment, but also how to live with it.

Larson spoke about how sleep is so critical and most people do not realize the difference it can make. “I emphatically believe in it,” said Lason. Some of her patients have come back with stories about how, before therapy, they were grumpy, gaining weight and more. However, after therapy and getting a better night’s sleep, Larson said their friends and families often say they are like whole new people. It not only improves their overall health but also those important and profound relationships that make life worth living, emphasized Larson.

During the ribbon cutting, Partners in Home Care chaplain Daniel Disch read from “The Inarguable Assignment,” by Brian James Doyle. This came from the January 2017 issue of Give Us This Day. Disch read, “Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, succor the sick and frightened and lonely, as the Christos says later in this very Gospel: that is the inarguable assignment.” Disch likened this to the job of nurses and the mission of Partners in Home Care. He then dedicated the new space to “Love and human happiness.”

Jodi Foster, with the Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce, spoke as well, saying, “One of the things that makes the Bitterroot Valley so special is the way we show up for one another.” She spoke of this new chapter in Partners in Home Care, and the Bitterroot, as being a culmination of that quality.

Schneider then spoke, saying, “I am in awe that this is our new clinic space.” She said this, noting how historic the building is and commenting on the process it took to get there. “It has shown us that the needs in our rural communities are growing,” said Schneider, and she is proud of how they are stepping up to meet those needs. She then thanked the Partners in Home Care team for everything they have done for the community and for growing the organization.

Another to speak was Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobson, who, for the third time, spoke during a Partners in Home Care event. For Jacobson, access to quality care in such a vast rural state like Montana is a big deal. She said providing that care “Preserves dignity, and strengthens individuals.” She then said, “Thank you for making the meaningful difference you make every day,” to the organization team.

In a later interview, Jacobson said, “I am just super impressed with the CEO (Schneider) and their mission.” She added that her support really comes from how the organization “serves people with compassion and dignity.”

The last to speak before the ribbon was cut was Canavan, who said, “To so many of you that pour your hearts into this every day, thank you… Thank you for caring for our communities the way they deserve.”