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Montana’s largest hospital is asking Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office to deploy the National Guard to assist doctors and nurses who are stretched thin by the growing surge in COVID-19 cases. This is the second request for assistance in the last month.
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A 15-year-old patient died by suicide earlier this year while under the care of Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena. A state health department report released to Montana Free Press outlines insufficient staffing and inadequate monitoring in the hospital’s residential psychiatric unit may have contributed to the child’s death in May.
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MSU estimates that Montana needs another 1,400 registered nurses to keep up with health care demands and a workforce shortage it says could nearly double by the end of the decade.
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The Montana Hospital Association this week formally requested that Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration use federal COVID relief money to acquire more medical staff. Some County health departments in Montana are struggling to keep up with contact tracing as new cases of coronavirus are on the rise.
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Montana added about 630 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, the largest single-day increase since early January. Hospitalizations are also on the rise, causing hospitals to exceed staff and bed capacity.
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Montana’s health department is finalizing a proposal to increase how often it audits people enrolled in the state’s coverage program for low-income adults. Health care providers and advocacy groups say some will unnecessarily lose their health coverage.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs Monday became the nation’s first major federal agency to require health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines. Montana VA officials are now carefully reviewing the new mandate that applies to about 500 workers in the state.
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Montana officials are recommending that $22 million in federal stimulus money go toward disability services, COVID-19 screening at schools and programs to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
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Delta is now the predominant variant of COVID-19 detected in Montana, according to the state health department’s latest variant report.
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Some health officials worry COVID-19 cases could increase among the unvaccinated as people head indoors to escape hot, smokey weather.