HEALTH Strings Under the Big Sky - Explore Big Sky

50 June 29, 2012
health news
Wia has new community counselor
growing connection with local school
by emily stiFler
big Sky weekly managing editor
BIG SKY—In a health survey conducted this
year, Big Sky residents indicated that having a
community counseling program is a top health
priority.
Women In Action, a Big Sky nonprofit focused
on access to affordable health, family and educational
services, has provided a counseling
program for
“if you have a
mental health
need, it can be
addressed in big
sky and you don’t
have to drive to
bozeman"
the past four
years, most
recently in
partnership
with the HumanDevelopment
Clinic at
Montana State
University.
The first
community
counselor to come to WIA from MSU was Big
Sky resident Stasia Owens, who has since completed
her graduate program and taken a job with
Gallatin Mental Health.
WIA’s new community counselor Megan Obert
took the reins in June. Originally from a small
town in Montana, Obert has worked in crisis
management through the Hope House in Bozeman.
She was drawn to Big Sky because she
wanted to work in rural mental health.
“She really stood out as a candidate with a strong
skill set to work in an isolated community like
Big Sky,” said WIA Executive Director Lisa Beczkiewicz.
“It’s good to have a professional that’s
both a self starter and is self motivated.”
The Community Counseling program provides
affordable mental healthcare for individuals,
explorebigsky.com
couples and families for a range of issues including
depression, substance abuse, stress, grief,
interpersonal relationship, life transitions and
family issues. The services are accessible to everyone
in the community.
“If you have a mental health need, it can be addressed
in Big Sky, and you don’t have to drive
to Bozeman,” Beczkiewicz said. The program
served 25 people in the past year.
“It’s small, but it’s impactful,” Beczkiewicz said,
quoting Big Sky Resort Tax board member Les
Loble. The tax board this year agreed to fund 100
percent of WIA’s $18,500 request.
Mental health illness has a stigma, particularly
in a small rural community like Big Sky, Beczkiewicz
said. “Confidentiality is very important to
our program, and it’s done very well.”
In other news, WIA again awarded scholarships
to more than 40 Big Sky youth to attend summer
camps. Kids ages 3 – 17 will attend a range of
camps—everything from ballet class and horseback
riding, to early childhood education programs
and sports camps. The program last year
gave 83 total scholarships.
Building on a connection to Ophir School, WIA
and THRIVE are partnering to launch a new
parent liaison program this fall. For the past
two years WIA has helped fund Ophir’s school
counseling program, but now the school is hiring
a full-time guidance counselor.
“Having another skilled, positive adult to help
with the success of students and families is a
valuable asset to have in our school,” Beczkiewicz
said. The new position will bring a social
worker to provide support for parents and teachers,
parent education classes, and provide community
resources to the school.
Bipartisan bill addresses drug shortages,
speeds up research
by emily stiFler
big Sky weekly managing editor
WASHINGTON D.C. —A bill that passed both
Congressional houses nearly unanimously this June
would make affordable prescription drugs more
accessible and help Montana businesses producing
new drugs.
The Food and Drug Administration Safety and
Innovation Act includes a provision co-sponsored
by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., to encourage development
of new drugs that treat rare and highly
resistant infectious diseases.
Known as the GAIN Act, the provision streamlines
the approval process by extending patents for drug
makers and allowing them to work with non-accredited
investors.
Short for ‘Generating antibiotic incentives now,’ it
will benefit companies such as the Bozeman-based
pharmaceutical company Microbion, which specializes
in developing innovative drug treatments,
particularly for antibiotic resistant infections.
Its passage will change the playing field in the antibiotic
industry, said Microbion President and CEO
Dr. Brett Baker. If allowed to work with non-accredited
partners, Microbion could access big international
companies that “can really move something,”
Baker said.
The bill also extends existing agreements between
pharmaceutical companies and the FDA to speed up
drug approvals and improve the safety of medicine
and medical devices.
Because it will allow new drugs into the marketplace
faster and reduce the costs of generic drugs,
the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office
estimates the bill will save taxpayers $360 million
over the next decade.
It also encourages government and private companies
to work together to quickly develop and
approve treatments for chronic illnesses like Alzheimer’s
disease.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 96-1 and
House unanimously.
explorebigsky.com
by deb Courson smith
big Sky connection
Big Sky Weekly
Bicycle safety
helmets every time
HELENA—Wear a helmet every time. No exceptions.
That's the message from the American Academy of
Pediatrics this summer. The group confirms that
riding without a bike helmet significantly increases
the risk of head injuries if a bicyclist crashes, and
crashes can be serious even when just riding around
the neighborhood.
Emergency room doctor Mike Gittleman says wearing
a helmet can reduce head-injury chances by 85
percent—injuries that can run the gamut.
"Sometimes you just see some abrasions, but they
can also be more serious, where you can have skull
fractures, you can have intracranial bleeding, and it
can even cause death."
Just as you get your bicycle checked on a yearly basis,
he says, it's important to make sure your helmet
still fits correctly, which is particularly important
with children as they grow. He notes there is also an
economic rationale for bike-helmet use.
"The usage alone will not only save lives and prevents
injury, but it also saves health care dollars.
The expense of these injuries is great, and if we can
prevent them on the forefront, it would be saving
health care dollars as well."
With the exception of vehicles, Gittleman says,
bikes are linked to more childhood injuries than any
other consumer product. That includes trampolines,
ladders and swimming pools.
More than 600 people on bicycles were killed in
collisions with motor vehicles across the nation in
2010, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety, and at least 70 percent were not wearing
helmets.
Twenty-one states have bicycle helmet laws. Montana
isn't one of them.
of the 600 people killed
on bicycles in 2010 were
not wearing helmets.