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By Mark Moran - Producer-Editor, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - Montana has partnered with Blackfeet Community College in Browning to address the critical need of frontline health-care workers in the state. The Department of Labor and Industry hopes to expand the model statewide, getting more qualified hands-on Certified Nursing Assistants caring for patients -- in a matter of weeks. Comments from John Caldwell, engagement strategist, Montana Department of Labor and Industry.
Click on the image above for the audio. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there are about 220,200 openings for nursing assistants and orderlies each year over the course of a decade. (Adobe Stock)
The state partnered with Blackfeet Indian Community College to train CNAs.
Mark Moran
July 3, 2023 - Facing a critical shortage of frontline healthcare workers, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry has partnered with the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning to graduate new Certified Nursing Assistants.
Through the program, 22 CNA students underwent an intensive, two-week course designed to put them in the workforce right away, helping nurses and offering patient care, while addressing a debilitating shortage of critical, hands-on patient care providers.
John Caldwell, engagement strategist for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, said multiple healthcare providers in Browning will benefit, and the new CNA's will make an especially big difference among Browning's Native American population.
"There are multiple organizations in the Browning area that use Certified Nursing Assistants," Caldwell explained. "They are all short of staff there. This most certainly will help alleviate some of the pressure of the current staff that's there, and also be able to just offer better service to the Indigenous community in Browning."
Caldwell noted the intensive CNA training program, which was held in partnership with Blackfeet Community College, will serve as a statewide model to train more health care providers quickly.
Caldwell will push for the state to ramp up the program, attempting to avoid closing more healthcare facilities, which he emphasized has been an especially critical problem in rural areas.
"Looking back at the reasons that the health care facilities have closed in Montana ... most of the reasons have been due to workforce issues or a lack of workforce," Caldwell pointed out. "The lack of Certified Nursing Assistants is a major reason why facilities are having a hard time staying open in the state of Montana."
The Blackfeet Reservation, headquartered in Browning, is the third-largest reservation in Montana encompassing approximately 1.5 million acres.
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ButteNews.net
July 2, 2023
When Butte’s Fourth of July Parade tools down Harrison Ave. on Tuesday, the fourth float from the beginning will have a new and improved mascot.
The Toys for Tots Teddy Bear won’t be an inanimate stuffed animal, but a talking breathing retired Marine.
The Marine Corps League float will be accompanied by “the first interactive mascot for Toys for Tots in the US,” Michael Taapken said.
Taapken had the costume made and wore it in the Parade of Lights, he said during an interview in his restaurant. Now he breaks it out for American independence and holiday gifts for kids in need.
Taapken owns the I Don’t Know Cafe at the corner of Park and Main in Butte, and he is retired from the Marine Corps.
The program turned 75 last year and has distributed 652 million toys to 291 million children, according to the Toys for Tots website.
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Big Sky Connection - U.S. Postal Service workers are being recognized this weekend for their efforts in making sure the mail reaches its destinations, all year long. Despite staffing shortages, especially in rural areas like Montana, the USPS still scored record-high rates for on-time delivery. Comments from Mark Dimondstein (DIH-mun-steen), president of, the American Postal Workers Union.
Carriers score record high for on-time deliveries, despite staffing shortages
Mark Moran
June 30, 2023 - The U.S. Postal Service marks National Postal Worker Day this Saturday, recognizing the effort it takes to deliver mail across the country through all kinds of conditions.
The Postal Service has been faced with competitive challenges from private-sector delivery companies, and it's also not immune to other barriers employers are facing right now - such as being able to attract enough qualified workers. That makes keeping up with delivering the mail, especially challenging in places such as Montana, where a majority of the state's 326 post offices are in rural areas, said American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein.
"It affects the whole system," he said, "but it probably in some ways has even the deepest impact on smaller towns and smaller communities, where postal workers are out serving everybody."
The Postal Service faces serious staff shortages in part because so many employees are quitting. Turnover at the agency jumped from just over 38% in 2019 to nearly 59% last year. Still, 92% of deliveries were on time.
The Postal Service has faced criticism in the past for regular increases in stamp prices, but Dimondstein argued Postal Service rates are still fair for the service customers receive.
"It's 600,000 or so people and it's still an amazing thing," he said. "You can put a 63-cent stamp on a letter and it can go from one side of the country to the other. And it takes a lot of people to make that happen and a lot of dedication to make that happen."
In fiscal year 2019, the Postal Service delivered what was then a record 6.5 billion packages - then, during the pandemic, that number shot to 7.9 billion in 2021.
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PNS - Friday, June 30, 2023 - The Supreme Court says race cannot be a factor in college admissions, Teamsters working for shipping giant UPS say a strike is "imminent" and New York City manages a record number of people in its homeless shelter system.
