Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital to Host 10th Annual Kids Fun Day on June 14 to Honor Families and Young Patients
Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital will host its 10th annual Kids Fun Day on Saturday, June 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at ZooMontana.
This family-friendly event celebrates the hospital’s long-standing commitment to pediatric care in Montana and the surrounding area. The event will feature interactive animal encounters, inflatables, emergency vehicle tours, and safety demonstrations.
In 2016, Intermountain St. Vincent and Intermountain Health Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, and the University of Utah established a strong partnership to expand pediatric services and access to pediatric specialists in Montana.
The partnership was further strengthened in 2022 when SCL Health and Intermountain Health merged. Together, these organizations and pediatric healthcare providers are caring for the region’s children so they can heal close to home.
Intermountain St. Vincent also specializes in critical and pediatric trauma care, with the only dedicated pediatric intensive care unit and pediatric surgery program in eastern Montana, as well as a Level III neonatal intensive care unit. The specially trained, kid-friendly doctors and nurses at Intermountain St. Vincent provide safe, specialized care for infants, children, and their families.
This year, Kids Fun Day also honors the stories of families like that of Dana Peterson, a Billings mother, whose youngest son, Westley, received life-saving care at Intermountain St. Vincent.
Westley’s health challenges began in utero, when Peterson’s maternal fetal medicine (MFM) team at Intermountain detected heart arrhythmia (SVT—supraventricular tachycardia) in Westley.
She was under the care of Michael Gordon, MD, a Intermountain Health maternal fetal medicine specialist, and was being monitored closely because she had three previous high-risk pregnancies, including the loss of a baby at eight months gestation in 2020.
Peterson credits a conversation with Dr. Gordon for saving Westley’s life.
He shared a story about another patient whose baby had SVT and shared that the risk is low but there was a chance that the arrhythmia could cause a risk to Westley. He shared with Peterson that if she notices that if her baby stops moving, she needed to come in and get checked immediately.
At 36 weeks, Peterson noticed Westley wasn’t moving.
“Because of that conversation, I went in. He was having the arrythmia . If a baby is left in utero for 24 hours in that rhythm, there is a high risk of mortality,” she said. “When I got to the hospital, the nurses and provider on-call supported me through the nervous times. Everyone did an amazing job.”
Westley was delivered by emergency C-section and spent four days in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Vincent. “They just took amazing care of him and were great in such a stressful situation,” Peterson said.
“Dana is such a great person and patient. She has been through multiple challenging pregnancies, and I so appreciate her trust in our team,” said Dr. Gordon. “Patients like Dana make this job so rewarding and I am a better person and doctor because of Dana.”
Because of his heart condition, Westley was then monitored and treated by Dr. Hugh Bigg, a pediatric cardiologist at St. Vincent. “Westley didn’t tolerate the (heart) medication well, it made him pass out. He was hospitalized for fainting at Intermountain St. Vincent when he was four months old,” said Peterson. She worked with Dr. Bigg to manage his condition without the medication that was causing the side effects.
Peterson, a nurse who has worked in cardiac care for 10 years, appreciated Dr. Bigg’s collaborative approach.
“He never put any decision on me, but he made sure I was really involved. He even contacted (his partners) at Primary Children’s to get their advice for Westley’s condition.”
St. Vincent has continued to see growth in the need for pediatric care. In recent years, the number of physicians on its pediatric specialty team has grown from seven to 20 specialists in cardiology, pulmonology, endocrine and diabetes, developmental and neurologic pediatric care, and other specialties. St. Vincent has seen more than a 35 percent growth in the number of children seen at the pediatric specialty clinic.
Now, almost two years old, the heart defect that was causing Westley’s condition has resolved and he is a thriving toddler, requiring no additional monitoring at this time.
“Medicine is the ultimate team sport; it requires close collaboration between physicians, nurses, technologists but also, critically, parents and caretaker,” said Dr. Bigg. “Westley's story illustrates this perfectly. Dana received care from multiple providers, advocated very effectively for her and her son's health, saving his life. She is the hero of her own story and I'm proud to have been able to be a part of her care team with Dr. Gordon.”
Reflecting on her experience, Peterson is very grateful for the care that she and Westley received. After the loss of her child in 2020, having another high-risk pregnancy was very difficult. “They were so kind and caring. All of our care team from the nursing staff to ultrasound techs, made me feel like I was family there. Dr. Gordon saved my son’s life, and I owe him everything for that,” she shared.
“Westley’s story is a testament to the continuum of care that we offer at St. Vincent and at our pediatric specialty clinic in Billings,” said Melissa Jennings, director of women and children’s services at Intermountain St. Vincent. “From identifying conditions during pregnancy to providing life-saving interventions and care in our NICU with our smallest patient during the earliest days of their lives, we are so proud to be able to offer these services close to home for our community.”
The community is welcome to join in Kids Fun Day to celebrate stories like Peterson’s and the caregivers who make them possible.