POST FALLS — Kootenai Health is focused on the future of Post Falls when considering the population projection numbers in the next 20 years. 

At a Connect4Lunch event Tuesday through the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce, Kootenai Health CEO Jamie Smith stressed the importance of future facilities such as the recently announced Prairie Medical Campus. 

“Our mission is to make the community healthier and is to actually keep you out of the hospital. But if you need us, we’re here for you,” Smith said.  

By 2045, there could be 102,000 residents in Post Falls, according to analysis from Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization.  

Smith added that Post Falls looks like it will end up being the largest and densest area in the region. 

“Our goal is to be an anchor institution for the community,” Smith said. 

Part of embodying that anchor identity means change. 

In 2024, Kootenai Health converted from functioning as a public district hospital model to a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Months later, Smith joined Kootenai Health as the new CEO.  

The health organization had 800 open positions only two years ago, but Smith said staffing has shifted away from relying on travel care providers to people committed to staying in the area. 

“We have owners, not renters, on the team,” Smith said. 

Kootenai Health has achieved a level two trauma designation as a medical agency. Its robotic surgery center has been named a center of excellence and is currently the only medical care provider in the Inland Northwest to have achieved the designation, Smith said. 

Kootenai Health is the first hospital in Idaho to offer NeuroPace surgery for epilepsy, and staff openings have now dropped down to below pre-pandemic levels, Smith stated. 

The health care organization has also received a national accreditation for its breast center program. 

Although Kootenai Health is still recovering from hits taken during the pandemic, Smith said it is well positioned, both now and in the future.  

He said he believes achieving a "critical mass" of health care will better attract major investments and projects to enhance local health care. 

Christina Petit, president and CEO of the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce, commended Kootenai Health on its future-facing trajectory for health care in North Idaho and beyond. 

“We appreciate your commitment to healthy growth in our community,” Petit said.

    At the Connect4Lunch event Tuesday through the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce, Kootenai Health CEO Jamie Smith spoke about the progress over the past year.
  

    The Post Falls Chamber of Commerce hosted a Connect4Lunch with a presentation by Kootenai Health CEO Jamie Smith.