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Wednesday, 30 July 2008 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
At their regular board meeting Thursday evening the Pondera Medical Center board of trustees elected new offices and also seated a new member.
Ted Kronebusch was nominated and elected to board chairman by a unanimous vote.
County Commissioner Joe Christiaens was elected to be the new vice-chairman.
Rita Rae Weisgram was nominated and re-elected to her post of secretary and Cheryl Bakken was elected to be the board treasurer.
Brent Gaylord of Valier was introduced as a new board member.
Interim CEO Rick Palagi introduced Lori Ann Sullivan to the board of trustees.
Sullivan will be acting as an interim Human Resources Director (HRD), a position she holds for the Kalispell Regional Medical Center. She was in Washington, D.C. for seven years before making the move to Kalispell to work for KMRC.
A search is on for a new Human Resources Director for the PMC. The former HRD, Laura Elliott, recently resigned to take a similar position at a larger health center in Wyoming.
Palagi also noted that expenses for the month of July were under budget. “Everyone did a good job of managing expenses,” he said.
There was a discussion of posting the unofficial minutes in a draft form of the PMC board meeting on a bulletin board for employees.
Kronebusch was in favor of the idea, however, Palagi was a little hesitant to do so without some review of the minutes. “They are never right the first time,” he said, adding, “I would hate to get them some misinformation.” This item will be reviewed.
A report was given on the PMC Wellness Center that is well on its way to shattering attendance use from last year.
In 2007, there were 10,904 total people who used the Center. For the first six months of 2008, 7,698 have used the Center, compared to 6,211 for the first six months in 2007.
Last year there were 5,026 general visits in the first six months and 8,912 for the year. Through the first six months of 2008, 6,060 people have used the center.
In 2007, 1,455 PMC employees used the Wellness Center, 711 in the first six months of the year. Already, both of the figures have been shattered with employees using the Center 1,258 times in 2008. Charlene Bouma manages the Wellness Center.
Palagi gave a brief report on the impact of the PMC to the local economy. A full report was put together for the Montana Hospital Association by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.
He noted that the PMC is the county’s largest private employer and accounted for 11.4 percent of the county’s non-farm wage and salary jobs and 11 percent of its total wages.
The hospital has three multipliers that the Chamber of Commerce or Port Authority and other interested entities like to look at in order to help attract outside business.
The PMC has an employment multiplier of 1.33, a compensation multiplier of 1.24 and an output multiplier of 1.37.
The first number, 1.33, may be interpreted to mean that for every job at the PMC, another 0.33 jobs are supported in the county.
Another way to look at this is that if the PMC closed their doors, an additional 68 non-hospital related jobs would go away.
The number 1.24 means that for every dollar in wages and benefits paid to the PMC employees, another 24 cents of wages are created in other local jobs in the county.
Or, put another way, if the PMC suddenly went away, about $1,222,191 in additional wages would be lost from other jobs in the county.
The last number indicates that for every dollar of goods and services produced by the PMC, the output in the county increases by another 37 cents.
Palagi noted that a good healthcare system, along with your good education system, gives the community an advantage when competing for business. |
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Wednesday, 30 July 2008 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
 CEREMONIAL PITCH – Former Conrad resident David Brown , now living in Texas, came up to Conrad to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the Northern District American Legion baseball game on Thursday. He was instrumental in getting Legion ball back on track in the Tri-County area and making many big improvement at the ball field. He is throwing the ball to Cardinal catcher Bjorn Swanson. I-O Photo by Buck Traxler
Eight teams took part in the double elimination contest that started on Thursday and ended Sunday afternoon. Taking the field at one of, if not the best ball field in all of northcentral Montana were the Lethbridge Miners, Great Falls Stallions, Great Falls Sparkies, Fort Macleod Royals, Medicine Hat Knights, Vauxhall Spurs, and the Havre NorthStars.
The first game on Thursday featured the Stallions, a 6-3 winner over the Miners. Next up were the Knights who knocked off the Royals 8-7. The Spurs came on to stop the Sparkies 11-5.
Tri-County and Havre had the featured game of the day at 5 p.m. with the official opening ceremonies taking place. The highlight of the opening festivities was having former Conrad resident, David Brown, toss out the first pitch to Cardinal catcher Bjorn Swanson.
The Cardinals opened the game with Jake Robison on the mound. He sat the NorthStars down in order, getting three ground outs.
In the bottom half of the first inning Colby Johnson led off and brought the crowd to their feet. He launched the first pitch to him into a strong wind that sailed over the left field wall for a quick 1-0 Cardinal lead.
The score stayed that way until Havre tied the game in the top of the third. They stranded a runner at third with the batter looking at called third strike from Robison.
In the fourth and fifth innings the NorthStars pushed across two runs each in their half of the innings. The Cards answered with single runs in the bottom half of their innings to stay close, but trailing 5-3.
The Cards rallied back and led 6-5 late in the game. Orin Johnson came on to relieve Robison in the top of the eighth only to have the NorthStars rough him up and push five runs across the plate. The Cards came back with one run of their own to make the score 10-7.
In the ninth inning Tri-County loaded the bases but Havre shut the door and took a first round win, 10-7. The tough-to-take loss put the Cardinals in loser out play.
Friday morning the home boys took the field with the Sparkies. Brent Bandow started on the mound and was staked to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Tri-County had two batters get hit by pitches, C. Johnson and Mike Shea. They got three singles to score their runs. Both squads scored single runs in the second inning.
Then in the third frame, the Cards broke the contest wide open, exploding for seven runs.
O. Johnson and Shea opened the inning with safeties. Swanson followed, scorching a double to left center scoring Johnson. Justin Philipps then executed perfect suicide squeeze bunt that seemed to confuse the Sparkie infield, allowing not only Shea, but Swanson as well to motor home from second for a 6-1 lead. |
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Wednesday, 30 July 2008 |
Special to the I-O by Adele Stenson
 TOP STEER – Justin Fritz of the Sollid Pioneers 4-H Club had the Grand Champion Steer at the Marias Fair Steer Show. There were 51 steers averaging $2.61 a pound. Jake Fritz, a cousin to Justin from Liberty County exhibited the steer. Photo courtesy of Justin Fritz
Dave Phillips was a judge in the areas of Teen Leadership, Self-Determined Projects, Exploring 4-H and Club Projects. Phillips was an MSU Extension agent for 30 years and is now serving as the Central Regional Department Head for Extension. He commented, “All of you have the privilege of working with some really talented junior leaders – I enjoyed my interaction with them.”
While his experience was particularly with the teen segment, Pondera Extension agents Dan Picard and Adele Stenson would echo his sentiment about the 4-H youth in general. “It is so exciting to watch the youth grown in skill and confidence over the years,” says Stenson.
At the Fair, youth compete either based on age or based on the project level they are enrolled in. For most leveled projects, youth are spending two to three years per level. For the divisions that are based on age by October 1 of the 4-H year, pre-juniors are 8-10 years old, juniors are 11-13, and seniors are 15 and older.
Pondera County youth earned mostly blue ribbons and many top awards at the 2008 Marias Fair. All 4-Hers at the Marias Fair are required to do a project interview in order to exhibit – the purpose of the interview is to help them gain skills in presenting themselves and what they know to an adult interviewer. For the first time this year, participants had the opportunity to earn rosettes for being top interviewers.
The following Pondera 4-Hers earned Best of Class Project Interview rosettes:
Junior Beef – Justin Fritz; Junior Dog – Olivia Knobel; Senior Dog – Tia Robinson; Junior Foods and Nutrition – Kassady Sheble; Pre-Junior Foods and Nutrition – Jordan Stoltz; Junior Goat – Krystal McDougall; Junior Horse – Jade Rodriguez; Junior Industrial Arts – Justin Fritz; Pre-Junior Industrial Arts – Garrett Fritz; Senior Industrial Arts – Cassie Peters; Judge’s Choice for Self-Determined Project (Tough Enough to Wear Pink) – Jessica Stenson; Junior Self-Determined Project (Blankets for Babies Community Service) – Marisa Habel; Senior Self-Determined Project (welding) – Shannon Elings; Pre-Junior Sewing – Skylar Stenson; Junior Sheep – Krystal McDougall; Senior Sheep – Jayleen Harris.
Pondera 4-Hers earned Best of Class rosettes for the following exhibits:
Junior Cat – Jade Rodriguez; Pre-Junior Dog – Kenny Habets; Junior General Foods – Kassady Sheble; Pre-Junior Decorated Foods – Malia Curry; Pre-Junior Foods – Malia Curry; Junior Horse Educational Display – Taylour Russell; Junior Horse Project Presentation – Jenna Rodriguez; Junior Industrial Arts – Justin Fritz; Pre-Junior Industrial Arts – Garrett Fritz; Senior Industrial Arts – Cassie Peters; Junior Leadership Display – Marisa Habel; Junior Mechanical Sciences – Brett Peters; Senior Mechanical Sciences – Mariah Sheble; Pre-Junior Photo – Jordan Stoltz; Senior Plant Sciences – Steven Peters; Junior Self-Determined Project (Blankets for Babies) – Marisa Habel; Senior Self-Determined Project (Welded Pie Safe Shelf); Pre-Junior Sewing – Skylar Stenson; Wool Educational Display – Krystal McDougall; and Junior Dog Educational Display – Jenna Rodriguez. |
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