Committee Application deadline is Oct. 3 

BOZEMAN – Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks staff in southwest Montana are seeking applicants to the region’s Citizens Advisory Committee.  

The committee meets several times per year and operates in an advisory capacity to help FWP be responsive and effective resource managers within the constraints of the law. Citizen advisors help identify emerging trends and resolve conflicts, and they act as FWP ambassadors to various interest groups and geographic communities. 

FWP employees benefit from having a deeper understanding of public priorities and expectations with help from citizen advisors, who can function as a trusted sounding board for ideas and initiatives. People who volunteer in this capacity benefit from understanding FWP programs, priorities, administrative processes and limitations in a broader context.  

FWP is seeking applicants representing a variety of interests from communities across southwest Montana within Region 3. For more information or to apply, call 406-577-7891 or send an email to Morgan.Jacobsen@mt.gov. Applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 3. 

A new four-year, $1.9 million grant will enable a team of collaborators at Montana State University and the University of Montana to continue a program that trains students to better serve individuals with mental health care needs.

The grant, from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, will continue funding the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program. Known as BHWET-West, the program is administered by both MSU and UM and focuses on meeting mental health care needs in western Montana, particularly those of children, adolescents and youth.

“Montana has a significant general need for mental health care, as well as a specific need for mental health care for children, adolescents and young adults,” said Rebecca Pogoda, clinical instructor with the MSU College of Nursing’s Bozeman campus and head of the college’s psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program. “A goal of this program is to provide additional training opportunities for students so that they are well-prepared for this work.”

Over the four years of the grant, the program will fund 72 MSU and UM graduate students to deliver and integrate professional services into existing institutions, agencies and clinics. Most of the funds will go directly to student stipends.

“Although the state has many hard-working, effective mental health professionals working with our youth, there simply are not enough of them,” said Mary-Ann Sontag Bowman, a UM social work associate professor and program director/co-principal investigator for the grant. “This project funds the placement of graduate students in agencies and organizations that serve children, adolescents and transitional-age youth, expanding the capacity of organizations to meet immediate needs and help build the area’s workforce.”

Since students often practice where they are trained, Sontag Bowman added, placement in these agencies and organizations increases the likelihood of these future professionals staying in those communities.

Participating students in BHWET-West are pursuing careers as psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists, licensed social workers or licensed professional counselors. Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner students are enrolled in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program in MSU’s College of Nursing, psychology students are enrolled in a doctoral program in psychology at UM, social work students are enrolled in UM’s master’s program in social work, and counseling students are enrolled in UM’s master’s program in clinical mental health counseling.

Pogoda emphasized that students participating in the program receive training specifically geared toward working with young people, both in the form of coursework and monthly interprofessional meetings where related topics are discussed.

“A goal of this program is to provide training and experiences so that students who graduate from these programs will be comfortable working with these populations and, in fact, want to work with these populations,” Pogoda said.

The program also provides rich opportunities for interprofessional education and collaboration, she said.

“Learning about integrated care and interprofessional education is an important part of this grant,” Pogoda said. “It’s designed to give students experiences working with, say, a therapist, a primary care provider, a psychiatrist and a social worker, who often all work together with this population.”

Sarah Shannon, dean of the MSU College of Nursing, said increasing the mental health workforce is a top priority for Montana.

“MSU College of Nursing is proud to continue our partnership with the University of Montana in this pressing area,” Shannon said. “The BHWET-West program has been a national leader in offering students an interprofessional experience in behavioral health in a rural state. We know that Montana consistently ranks among worst states for suicide. We are committed to ensuring that children, teens and adults in Montana have access to help when they need it most.”

Ultimately, the program aims to help meet the mental health care needs of people in western Montana.

“The highlight of this grant is it allows MSU and UM to create a workforce for Montanans,” Pogoda said. “We’re training students to work in Montana, and to work with youth.”

In addition to Pogoda and Sontag Bowman, other project collaborators include co-principal investigators Tracy Hellem, associate professor with the MSU College of Nursing’s Missoula campus; Jayna Mumbauer-Pisano, assistant professor, UM Department of Counseling; and Greg Machek, professor, UM Department of Psychology. Consultants include Bryan Cochran, professor, UM Department of Psychology; and Holly Schleicher, former UM director of integrated behavioral health.

The grant complements a second four-year grant recently awarded to the MSU College of Nursing that aims to help address a shortage of mental health providers in eastern Montana, particularly in areas of low population and high geographic remoteness. That program will provide training opportunities and financial support for students working to become psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, mental health counselors or psychiatrists.

The MSU College of Nursing educates students on its five campuses to be professional nurses capable of working in a variety of settings. It is the largest supplier of Bachelor of Science-prepared nurses in Montana. It is also Montana's only public provider of graduate nursing education and offers a Master of Nursing degree focused on rural clinical nurse leadership and a Doctor of Nursing Practice program that prepares students for certification as family nurse practitioners or psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners. More information about the MSU College of Nursing is available at montana.edu/nursing/.

The Lake Street Dive performance, originally scheduled at the ELM in Bozeman, MT on September 21, 2021, has been rescheduled for September 23, 2021 at the KettleHouse Amphitheater near Missoula, MT. The move to an outdoor setting was the only way to ensure Lake Street Dive performed in Western Montana. 

Here’s a note from the artist: 

“Hello MONTANA! We are moving our show that was originally planned for September 21st at The Elm in Bozeman to an OUTDOOR show in Missoula on September 23rd at The Kettlehouse Amphitheater… We’ve always loved our experiences in Montana and are excited to perform under the stars at the beautiful KettleHouse Amphitheater.” - Lake Street Dive

All originally purchased tickets will be honored at the rescheduled date. No exchanges necessary. Ticket holders for the originally scheduled date will receive an email with options for refunds if desired. 

Tickets for Lake Street Dive at the KettleHouse Amphitheater September 23, 2021 are on sale now and can be purchased at logjampresents.com, or by calling eTix at  (800) 514-3849. 

As the outdoor summer concert season comes to an end and events move indoors, Logjam Presents may see additional artists choose to postpone or in some cases cancel their upcoming Montana performances.

As a locally owned and independently operated Montana business, Logjam Presents respects the decision of each artist and concert-goer either way and will continue our mission to bring the best entertainment we can to Montana while also adhering to policies put forth by the Montana state legislature.

With high ceilings, ample space, and some of the best ventilation systems in the state, the Wilma in Missoula, MT as well as The ELM in Bozeman, MT provide unique opportunities for the Montana community to support the arts in a spacious and more comfortable environment as we move into the colder months. 

For more information on box office hours and impacted events, please visit https://logjampresents.com/covid-19/. Additional questions regarding refunds and ticketing can be directed to boxoffice@logjampresents.com. 

 Montana PBS will expand its news and public affairs programming over the next two years thanks to a $300,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Trust.

The award will allow Montana PBS to provide an expanded production schedule and add staff to “The Rundown with Jackie Coffin,” a program hosted, produced and edited by Coffin. Montana PBS will also provide matching funds to help sustain the program and its staff in the long-term, according to Kristina Martin, Montana PBS development director.

“We are grateful for this funding from the Otto Bremer Trust, which will allow us to build capacity, expand our coverage throughout the state and tell more stories relevant to our viewers,” Martin said.

Martin added that the Montana PBS team is looking forward to engaging with the program’s audiences in new ways as it explores topics and breaking news across the state.

In addition to “The Rundown with Jackie Coffin,” Montana PBS airs several national programs focused on news and public affairs, including “PBS NewsHour,” “Washington Week” and “Amanpour and Co.”

To learn more, and to watch current episodes of “The Rundown with Jackie Coffin,” visit montanapbs.org/rundown.

Effective learning cannot be achieved without knowing the best practices for learning. In this article, we collected the most important learning principles aimed to make learning more effective.

Principle 1: Understanding Rather Than Memorization
Learning is more effective when it focuses on understanding general principles and concepts rather than memorizing individual facts and algorithms. Understanding itself is the key to the practical application of knowledge in life situations. This is important because even the tasks of the world-famous PISA test do not test how well children know the school program but how effectively they can use school knowledge in everyday life. And to really understand the material, you need to discuss it and give enough time to think.

Principle 2: Applying Knowledge to Different Situations
Learning becomes more effective and meaningful when students learn to apply knowledge in real-life situations. This is logical because why know Newton's laws if they exist only in tests and in the pages of the textbook? Furthermore, the child will be more willing to learn new knowledge if he knows that he can apply it outside of school. For example, any regular professional essay writer will constantly be reapplying and recontextualizing their academic knowledge, so this principle is extremely important.

Principle 3: Time for Practice
It takes time to absorb information. To apply it in practice - too. For example, students' reading and writing skills depend on how much time they actually read and write.

Spend more time on active learning (remember the principle of active participation of children in the classroom). Passive acquisition of new information is much less effective than tasks that involve students: it can be planning experiments, measuring, discussing, preparing projects.

Dedicate time to conscious practice, in which students independently assess their own progress and regulate the learning process accordingly: we talked more about this in paragraph 6 of the previous material. It is also important to take breaks between practices to prevent burnout.

Principle 4: Developmental and Individual Differences
Individual differences play a major role in the learning process. Usually, the school pays attention to abilities in either the humanities or the exact sciences, but they cannot be classified into only two categories.

Someone may have outstanding spatial thinking or fine musical hearing, so it is worth organizing training to identify and nurture the individual differences of each student. It's all about recognizing the unique nature of every person. In terms of learning, this aspect can show itself through even something as simple as some students needing essaywriter.org while others do not.

Principle 5: Motivation (Creating Motivated Learners)
A motivated student is easy to recognize - he strives to achieve the goal and devotes enough time and effort to it. All teachers want to work with children who are motivated to learn, but as motivation directly affects learning, so does the teacher affect motivation. So how to do it right?

Recognize student achievement. Praise them for their success, but focus on internal rather than external factors. Help students believe in themselves. Do not underestimate their abilities, do not compare with each other because they are all unique and develop at their own pace. Have the children hear words of support from you and receive assignments that meet their level, goals, and needs.

Help students set goals and adjust them so that they are realistic. After setting goals, tell students how to choose the best learning strategy.

Group children according to their abilities and encourage cooperation instead of competition: for example, they can jointly implement educational projects. A VARK survey will help determine the best learning strategy for each student.

Suggest interesting tasks: not too easy, but not too difficult. The child should feel that he can potentially solve them - this will encourage him to make more effort. Additionally, gamified learning experiences can easily encourage, engage, and motivate students to achieve more.

How Personalized Learning Is Implemented in Modern Education
Every year Microsoft Education adds to the list of the most innovative schools in the world - Microsoft Showcase Schools. The list includes institutions that use personalized learning approaches and develop 21st-century skills among schoolchildren.

Personalized learning is becoming more popular and effective due to the rapid development of technology. Adaptive learning technologies are adapted to the student in real-time and provide him and the teacher with analytics of the educational process.

Such technologies are increasingly attracting the attention of reputable educational institutions. In particular, the online learning platform CogBooks and the University of Arizona tried to introduce an inverted course (new material is developed at home, and in-class it is discussed and completed) in biology and two history courses.

To do this, the university and CogBooks have developed an adaptive online environment, and after the first semester, the number of students who did not complete the course fell 10 times - from 15% to 1.5%. The adaptive environment included video and interactive tasks: in addition, the teacher saw student performance statistics and could identify topics that need to be worked out in more detail in class. At the same time, the Technical University of Colorado uses the personalized Intellipath learning system as one of the main components of the programming course.

THREE FORKS – A suspected explosive device was found Saturday evening at Williams’ Bridge Fishing Access Site along the Jefferson River.  

Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue personnel found what appeared to be a pipe bomb in the river while conducting training at the site. Game wardens with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks closed the site and the nearby Sappington Bridge Fishing Access Site during the investigation.  

Explosive ordinance disposal technicians from Malmstrom Air Force Base near Great Falls came to the site and detonated the device Sunday morning. Williams’ Bridge and Sappington Bridge fishing access sites were reopened to the public later that morning.  

The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office is leading the ongoing investigation into the device.

“We’re grateful to Gallatin County and Malmstrom Air Force Base personnel for their collaborative response in this situation. Thanks to these efforts, we were able to safely reopen these sites to the public,” said FWP Warden Capt. Adam Pankratz. “This is also a good reminder to use caution and carefully inspect items we would normally think of as litter before picking them up.” 

Those with information that may be helpful in this investigation are asked to contact the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office at 406-582-2100. 

A Montana State University nursing economist was featured in a recent New York Times article about a nationwide shortage of nurses and the risks that accompany the shortage.

The piece, “‘Nursing is in crisis’: Staff shortages put patients at risk,” was published Aug. 21 and included quotes from MSU nursing professor Peter Buerhaus, an expert on the economics of the nursing workforce and head of the MSU Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies.

“Nursing shortages have long vexed hospitals,” wrote New York Times health and science reporter Andrew Jacobs. “But in the year and a half since its ferocious debut in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic has stretched the nation’s nurses as never before, testing their skills and stamina as desperately ill patients with a poorly understood malady flooded emergency rooms.”

Jacobs went on to note that nurses remained steadfast amid a shortage of personal protective equipment, and, spurred by a sense of duty, nurses flocked to hot zones and sometimes worked as volunteers. He reported that more than 1,200 nurses nationwide have died from the coronavirus.

Jacobs continued: “Now, as the highly contagious delta variant pummels the United States, bedside nurses, the workhorse of a well-oiled hospital, are depleted and traumatized, their ranks thinned by early retirements or career shifts that traded the emergency room for less stressful nursing jobs at schools, summer camps and private doctor’s offices.”

And, he noted, “across the country, the shortages are complicating efforts to treat hospitalized coronavirus patients, leading to longer emergency room waiting times and rushed or inadequate care as health workers struggle to treat patients who often require exacting, round-the-clock attention.”

Furthermore, Jacobs wrote, when hospitals lack nurses to treat those who need less intensive care, emergency rooms and I.C.U.s are unable to move out patients, creating a traffic jam that limits their ability to admit new ones.

Jacobs wrote that MSU’s Buerhaus was included in the story as being “especially rattled” by two data points: “A third of the nation’s nurses were born during the baby boom years, with 640,000 nearing retirement; and the demographic bulge of aging boomers needing intensive medical care will only increase the demand for hospital nurses.”

“I’m raising the yellow flag because a sudden withdrawal of so many experienced nurses would be disastrous for hospitals,” Buerhaus said in the article.

Jacobs wrote that many experts fear the exodus will accelerate as the pandemic drags on and burnout intensifies and that surveys suggest that nurses are feeling increasingly embattled. Nurses are also angry that so many Americans have refused to get vaccinated, Jacobs wrote.

“They feel betrayed and disrespected,” Buerhaus said.

Jacobs noted that there is not a simple solution, and increasing the nation’s nursing workforce is no easy task. “The United States is producing about 170,000 nurses a year, but 80,000 qualified applicants were rejected in 2019 because of a lack of teaching staff,” he wrote.

On Aug. 30, the MSU College Nursing announced a gift of $101 million from Mark and Robyn Jones, founders of Goosehead Insurance Inc., who have a home in Whitefish. The gift — the largest ever given to a college of nursing, as well as the largest private gift in the history of the state of Montana — will allow the college to meet the state’s projected shortfall in baccalaureate-prepared registered nurses by 2030, and it will also allow the college to double the number of family nurse practitioners and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners that graduate from MSU by 2030, and to start a certified nurse midwifery program, according to Sarah Shannon, dean of the college. Ultimately, the gift aims to help increase access to health care in Montana, particularly primary, mental health and maternal care in rural and remote areas. More information is available at montana.edu/news/21412.

The full New York Times story is available online at nytimes.com/2021/08/21/health/covid-nursing-shortage-delta.html.

Fire restrictions still in effect in some areas 

BOZEMAN – Fire restrictions have been updated for properties managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in several counties. 

Fire restrictions have been rescinded for FWP properties in Deer Lodge, Granite, Gallatin and Park counties. Stage-1 fire restrictions are still in effect for FWP properties in Madison, Beaverhead, Silver Bow, Jefferson, and Lewis and Clark counties.  

Stage-1 restrictions at FWP sites ban campfires except where specifically exempted and allow smoking only in vehicles and areas 3 feet in diameter that are cleared of flammable materials. Gas or propane stoves that can be turned on and off are still allowed.  

Fireworks are always prohibited at FWP sites.  

Fire restrictions are in effect in other areas of Montana. For more information, visit mtfireinfo.org. 

HKHF Initiative Has Invested More Than $1.5M in Montana Since 2014

HELENA — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana (BCBSMT) awarded Youth Homes a $50,000 Healthy Kids, Healthy Families® (HKHF) grant Friday, Sept. 3 to bolster the organization’s Shelter Care Program through a greater emphasis on a comprehensive staff support system.

Since 1971, Youth Homes has provided services for youth and families, including a network of shelters in Montana. The Margaret Stuart Youth Home in Helena, Linda Massa Youth Home in Hamilton, and Flathead Youth Home in Kalispell offer short- and long-term shelter care, while the Shirley Miller Attention Home in Missoula provides short-term shelter care.

The HKHF initiative is an ongoing commitment by BCBSMT to invest in and partner with like-minded nonprofit organizations that offer sustainable, measurable programs to reach children and their families in the five following focus areas: nutrition, physical activity, disease prevention and management, substance abuse prevention, and suicide prevention.

“Youth Homes plays a vital role in the lives of many disadvantaged Montana children and we are proud to support their efforts to improve the health and wellness of those in their care,” said John Doran, BCBSMT Divisional Vice President of External Affairs. “We care deeply about the physical, social and emotional wellness of our communities, and Youth Homes is a great partner in our effort to support those in need.”

Youth Homes shelter care offers short-term care for youth who are out of their homes because of a crisis, have concerns about the safety or stability of their home, or who are awaiting a longer-term placement. The goal of the of shelter care is to keep youth stable and safe until they can be placed in an appropriate, more permanent setting, with three weeks being the average length of stay.

The grant will support efforts to address all five HKHF focus areas, such and providing for healthy and reliable meals, physical and recreational opportunities, facilitation of medical appointments, training and support for staff around substance abuse prevention, and training in youth mental health.

Learn more about Youth Homes at www.youthhomesmt.org.

Since 2014, BCBSMT has awarded more than $1.5 million through the HKHF initiative. In addition, BCBSMT contributes more than $500,000 each year to nonprofit organizations that support efforts throughout the state to improve the health of all Montanans. BCBSMT also presents the Governor’s Cup each June and supports the Caring Foundation of Montana’s Care Van program, which provides access to preventive health care services at low or no cost. The Governor’s Cup, which has been running strong since 1974, promotes the benefits of physical activity though running and walking, is host to more than 4,500 participants each year, whose race fees directly benefit the Caring Foundation of Montana.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana (BCBSMT) is a division of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company and Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. BCBSMT is the largest and longest-standing statewide, customer-owned health insurer and full-service health benefits administrator in Montana. BCBSMT has provided high-quality health insurance plans and administrative services to Montanans for more than 80 years and is committed to ensuring its members — no matter where they are on the health spectrum — achieve maximum health. Headquartered in Helena with five regional offices, BCBSMT’s purpose is to stand with its members in sickness and in health.