Located in Western Montana
107 6th Ave SW, Ronan, MT 59864

When Ronan High School graduate Colton Roullier was exploring a career in healthcare, St. Luke Community Healthcare opened a door.

While still in high school, Colton completed his Certified Nursing Assistant training and began working in St. Luke’s Acute Care Facility. Caring for patients inspired him to pursue nursing, and he enrolled at Salish Kootenai College to earn his nursing degree.

After graduation, Colton and fellow SKC graduate Amanda Hutchinson accepted positions in Great Falls to gain experience. They built careers, got married, and soon found themselves preparing to welcome their first child.

When it came time to decide where to raise their growing family, they realized the place they wanted to build a life was the place where Colton’s healthcare journey had begun. The community that had invested in his future was the community where they wanted to raise their own children.

They chose home.

Today, Colton is once again caring for patients at St. Luke, this time as a registered nurse. Amanda now serves the Mission Valley through Partners in Home Care.

“St. Luke gave me my first opportunity in healthcare,” Colton said. “Now I have the chance to care for the community that helped shape who I am.”

Since 2018, St. Luke has partnered with Ronan High School to offer a 15-week internship program introducing juniors and seniors to careers throughout the hospital. By working alongside professionals in departments ranging from nursing to information technology, students often discover careers they never knew existed or confirm the path that’s right for them.

That commitment extends well beyond the Mission Valley. Through partnerships with medical schools and professional programs across the country, St. Luke regularly welcomes students completing clinical rotations in physical therapy, pharmacy, nursing, physician assistant studies, imaging, cardiopulmonary services, and other specialties.

One partnership with New York Medical College began through a simple request for a summer clinical rotation closer to home. That opportunity grew into an ongoing relationship that continues to bring physical therapy students to rural Montana.

Physical therapist Noah Bailey first came to St. Luke for his final clinical rotation. Nearly three years later, he continues serving patients after discovering both Montana and St. Luke felt like home.

Every internship, clinical rotation, and educational partnership represents an investment in the future of rural healthcare.

If you’d like to learn more about educational opportunities available through St. Luke Community Healthcare, or how you can help create more stories like Colton’s, visit www.stlukehealthcare.org/philanthropy. Together, we’re helping grow the next generation of healthcare professionals who will care for our families, our neighbors, and the communities we call home.