Local aerial wildfire management, response and suppression company, Bridger Aerospace is going the extra mile to support local health authorities and emergency services with the recent outbreak of Coronavirus COVID-19. With 34 COVID-19 cases already confirmed this week in Montana and over 42,400 confirmed cases in the United States, the company is preparing its aircraft for emergency medical transportation as the speed of infection rate continues to soar.

Bridger Aerospace has offered aerial transportation services using its Type 1 Air Tactical Ground Supervisor (ATGS) platforms. These aircraft have been committed to Bozeman Health to airlift emergency supplies that will be used to treat patients. Several of Bridger Aerospace’s work crew have been relocated to Bozeman hospital to expedite the completion of approximately 60 hospital beds. The company has also offered to deliver blood drive services in Montana. During this uncertain time, Bridger Aerospace is also supporting its workforce by ensuring all employees’ wages, both salary and hourly, are paid in full.

In conjunction with supporting local health organizations with the COVID-19 outbreak, Bridger Aerospace is maintaining full output of its aircraft ready to respond to wildfire incidents and outbreaks as the 2020 wildfire season approaches.

CEO at Bridger Aerospace, Tim Sheehy, said “in just a week we have seen tectonic shifts in many of the fundamentals of global life. In the US alone, we have seen numbers rise from the hundreds to over 42,000 confirmed cases in just a few weeks. It’s important for us to do our bit as a company and as individuals in these uncertain times. Bridger Aerospace is committed to providing support to local health organizations and emergency services. We have volunteered our services and resources to help combat the outbreak and flatten the curve. We will do this while we continue to prepare and maintain our fleet to effectively manage the 2020 wildfire season.”

About Bridger Aerospace
Bridger Aerospace is the only full-spectrum aerial firefighting service provider in the United States, delivering next-generation aviation services for wildfire response, management and suppression. Bridger operates best in-class Type 1 Air Attack platforms, Single Engine Air Tankers (SEAT), CL-415 EAF Water Scoopers, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Counter UAS Systems (X-MADIS) to facilitate an effective and successful firefighting mission. For more information, please visit, www.bridgeraerospace.com.

Big Sky, Montana, March 20^th, 2020 –  Effective today the Big Sky Resort Area District (District), Yellowstone Club Community Foundation (YCCF), Moonlight Community Foundation (MCF), and Spanish Peaks Community Foundation (SPCF) are announcing a joint relief effort to provide coordination and funding to assist Big Sky in response to the results of COVID-19. District Board Chair Kevin Germain commented, “Now more than ever, it is paramount that we work collaboratively to make strategic funding initiatives to help our community. Our community has a long history of coming together during a time of need and this is no exception. The coordination of key partners will help ensure Big Sky is poised to “weather this storm” and come out on the other side stronger than ever.” Effective today, the District has committed $1,000,000 to the Big Sky Relief Fund helping to assist the Big Sky Medical Center manage the COVID-19 pandemic in Big Sky and mitigate social and economic impacts. In an extraordinary show of community support the Foundations have pledged $1,000,000 to the effort.
 
All three Community Foundations stated that, they are pleased to announce the Big Sky Relief Fund. Montana communities pull together in a crisis. These efforts will immediately fund the purchase of eight ventilators for the Bozeman Deaconess system and Big Sky Medical Center. Additionally, they will soon provide immediate relief by addressing the lingering financial insecurities in our community – helping to provide recovery from this crisis. Funding partners and “on the ground” relief organizations are in daily communication regarding an ever-evolving analysis of needs and relief. Leaders of the Big Sky Relief Fund have consolidated information and resources through a partner launched website – www.BigSkyRelief.org.
 
Immediate concerns of the relief team are ensuring emergency and health needs are being addressed for a possible expanded COVID-I9 impact on the community. Efforts are underway to provide immediate support to the Big Sky Medical Center (BSMC) including volunteers, supplies, ventilators, COVID-19 testing equipment, and facility improvements including the completion of four rooms to increase capacity. Additionally, the Big Sky Fire District and Big Sky Resort Area District are participating on Gallatin County Emergency communication calls that ensure coordination between Big Sky and the County Health Department. “We’re very fortunate as communities to have seen limited, confirmed cases of COVID-19 to this point, but we need to plan and prepare now for what could be challenging days ahead for Big Sky Medical Center and the patients we may see,” said Dr. Kathryn Bertany, president of BSMC and Deaconess Hospital in Bozeman. “We’re extremely proud to be part of what makes Big Sky so great. This community, once again, has come together in remarkable ways, rallied around us and our care team and provided us with the early support and confidence to be bold and innovative in our approaches. It’s clear to us, across Bozeman Health, that we’re in this together.”
 
We are constantly evolving our understanding and response to the community needs. Relief resources of “boots on the ground” efforts are consolidated on www.BigSkyRelief.org. If members of the Big Sky community identify needs not being addressed, please complete the contact us form on the website. It’s critical that the Foundations and the District have an informed understanding of what is not being addressed currently.
 
A host of social partners within the community are actively working to support:

• Volunteer Coordination (Big Sky Community Organization)
• Food Relief [Big Sky Community Food Bank, Big Sky School District #72 (BSSD#72)]
• Grocery and Delivery Services (SPCF, Big Sky Community Food Bank, Roxy’s, Country Market, and Hungry Moose)
• Mental Health Services (Women in Action)
• Day Care/Education (BSSD#72, Morningstar Learning Center, Big Sky Discovery Academy)
• Business Relief and Economic Recover (Big Sky Chamber of Commerce and Visit Big Sky)

https://www.bozemanwintermarket.com/local-food-resource-guide

These resources were shared in a newsletter from EagleMount Bozeman:

Basic Needs: Lots of our community’s nonprofits are working hard to ensure basic needs are still being met for our neighbors. Our friends at Reach, for example, have residential facilities with staff who are striving to keep everyone safe during this complex time. If you would like to help out, or need a comprehensive list of resources, HRDC is a hub, please click HERE.

Rides: Galavan will offer rides as possible with staff availability, with robust cleaning procedures and limits on riders to accomplish social distancing. For more details on transportation, please click HERE.

Food Pickups and Meals: Gallatin Valley Food Bank is offering pre-packaged food boxes, to be picked up between 1 and 4 p.m. For more details about food resources, please click HERE. Fork and Spoon will have take-out only, with regular hours. For a menu and ordering option, please click HERE.

Other Support: If you can help, please consider supporting our friends at the above resources with a donation or by volunteering your time if you are able.

Friday, March 20, 2020

When Connie Chang was in graduate school, a senior colleague told her to not expect to become a professor. He may have thought he was giving her a friendly reality check, Chang said, but the comment nonetheless illustrated the persistence of gender stereotypes that all too often undercut women’s aspirations.

Now an accomplished researcher in Montana State University's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering, Chang is featured on the cover of a new book titled “Women's Work: Stories From Pioneering Women Shaping Our Workforce,” which highlights women defying expectations to lead careers shaped by their persistence and talent.

"I had no idea I would be on the cover," said Chang, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. "I thought the book was a really neat idea, and I've been happy to be part of it."

A project of award-winning photographer Chris Crisman, the book pairs his photos of 56 women —including a blacksmith, a vice president at Google and a rancher who lives near Livingston — with short essays authored by each woman about their upbringing and the challenges they've overcome.

The cover photo shows Chang in her lab in MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering, seated in front of a microscope and surrounded by a variety of chemistry glassware. "Forging a path as a woman in science is challenging, but each experience has helped me to grow and gain confidence in my abilities," she writes in the two-page essay about her parents, job at MSU and roles as mentor and mother of two young daughters.

Crisman invited Chang to participate in the project about two years ago, when he told her he would be in Montana for another photo shoot, according to Chang. A prominent scientist at MSU, Chang won a $500,000 CAREER grant, the National Science Foundation's highest honor in support of early-career faculty, in 2018. Her work focuses on new applications of microfluidics, in which tiny drops of fluid are manipulated in channels the size of a human hair in order to rapidly sort different microorganisms to help create vaccines, and test antibiotics, among other applications.

"I'm really proud to have Connie as a colleague," said Abbie Richards, head of the chemical and biological engineering department. "Her research is truly cutting-edge. She's very creative and is a top performer in our department. She's also an excellent mentor to the students in her lab, both graduate and undergraduate, and through her mentorship, she provides opportunities for others to follow in her successes."

Richards, who was appointed in January as the engineering college's first female department head, serves with Chang on MSU's committee for the IChange initiative. MSU is one of 15 public research universities participating in the inaugural cohort of the IChange Network, which is designed to increase the diversity of faculty in science, technology, engineering and math.

IChange comes as the latest chapter in an effort, going back at least a decade, to increase the number of women faculty in STEM fields at MSU, according to Richards. In 2012, MSU won a $3.4 million NSF grant called ADVANCE Institutional Transformation, designed to improved gender equity, job satisfaction, inclusiveness and diversity. "It has been really transformative for our college," Richards said. Both Chang and Richards are featured in a recent video highlighting women in engineering at MSU.

Over the past decade, the number of female tenure-track faculty has climbed from 9% to 24% in the engineering college and from 18% to 38% in the chemical and biological engineering department. Lloyd Berg, who served as the department's head for 33 years until 1979, pioneered efforts to recruit women students into the field. Chang recalls her father, who earned a doctorate in chemical engineering, coming across an old article in an engineering publication about MSU setting national records in 1972 for its number of female graduates. "I'm incredibly fortunate to be a member of a department that has a long history of supporting women students and faculty,” Chang said.

"In our college, we're very motivated to change the culture of engineering to one that is inviting to all people," said dean Brett Gunnink, who serves on the IChange committee as well as the President's Commission on the Status of University Women at MSU. "When new, talented faculty join our community and excel, we aren't surprised. Dr. Chang is an outstanding example."

Chang said she is awed by the variety of paths forged by all the women featured in the book. "There are no limits to what women can do," she said.

The book is available for sale online from publisher Simon and Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Womens-Work/Chris-Crisman/9781982110376.

March 19, 2020

During our suspension of operations, we have continued to work with State and Local Health Officials and in response to the quickly changing Coronavirus recommendations, we have made the decision to close Red Lodge Mountain for the remainder of the 2019/20 Winter season. This decision has weighed heavily on our hearts, however, we feel strongly about doing our part in controlling the spread of COVID-19.

"We care immensely for our employees, customers and local communities, which made this the toughest decision I have been involved in during my time at Red Lodge Mountain," said Jeff Schmidt, General Manager.

We sincerely apologize to our customers who were looking forward to skiing Red Lodge Mountain over the remainder of our season. We will continue to monitor the status of the Coronavirus outbreak; should the health recommendations dramatically improve and we receive one of our famed late Spring / early Summer snowstorms, conditions permitting, we will try to offer skiing.

We have relaxed our cancellation and refund policy for date specific lift tickets. We will review policies on other products and reach out to those customers in the coming weeks. Please note, we anticipate a high call volume over the next few days and appreciate your patience as we work hard to respond to all inquiries. In the meantime, customers are encouraged to visit our website for updated information and answers to frequently asked questions

The 2019/20 ski season was certainly one for the books with an abundance of snow, epic turns, and good times with family and friends. We are already looking forward to the next time we can all make turns at Red Lodge Mountain.

On behalf of our entire team at Red Lodge Mountain, we thank you for a great ski season and will see you out on the Golf Course this Summer.

The GCCHD has established a Call Center to respond to questions from the public.

The GCCHD Public Call Center will field questions from Gallatin County residents and refer them to appropriate health department staff as needed. The Call Center number is (406) 548-0123 and you are encouraged to share this with parents, staff, and members of the community. The Call Center will be staffed daily during business hours and will provide responses to the public while relieving key health officials of the overwhelming volume of calls and emails. Local information can also be accessed online at https://www.healthygallatin.org/coronavirus-covid-19/ .