Kootenai Health new name for organization

The organization that operates Kootenai Medical Center and eight affiliates will now be known as Kootenai Health.

The name Kootenai will apply to the North Idaho Cancer Center, North Idaho Heart Center and other operations, including a new one in Bonner County.

The new umbrella name is meant to help residents understand that specialized care centers and joint ventures are part of the medical center’s growing services, hospital officials said Friday.

“We’ve become more than a hospital,” Kootenai Health CEO Joe Morris said.

The hospital will remain Kootenai Medical Center, spokeswoman Lisa Johnson said, and the familiar blue “K” logo associated with the hospital will be used for all Kootenai Health affiliates.

Kootenai Health notified its 1,600 employees of the change this week and plans to roll out the new name at Sunday’s Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene.

A flag over the medical tent at the triathlon will bear the “K” logo followed by “Kootenai Health.”

A community survey last year revealed many residents couldn’t name specialized care centers associated with the hospital, Johnson said. Fewer than half of the respondents associated North Idaho Cancer Center with the hospital, Morris added.

Changing the names to North Idaho or something completely new also was considered, Morris said.

“The name Kootenai is significant,” he said. “More than being representative of just the county, Kootenai speaks to the native people, forest areas and river ways that make the area unique. It is recognized as a regional name with a long-standing, positive history. It’s also been our primary service name for over 40 years, and our surveys tell us it is not only recognizable, but carries a strong, positive identity.”