Valley Views

valley views Let’s do nothing

The older people in our nursing homes have a problem. The state puts people on Medicaid and promises them services, and then doesn’t pay those who provide these services at a rate that is commensurate to the actual costs. Seventy five percent of those in our nursing home are on Medicaid and down to their last $2,000.

Valley View, a nonprofit nursing home in Glasgow did pretty well in 2019 and 2020. Then about mid 2021 it hit. We were dealing with numerous new regulations without funding, Covid outbreaks that required quarantine and meant we couldn’t accept new residents, families that didn’t want to put their family members into quarantine, a severe shortage of nurses and other staff, and agencies who charged us three times the normal salary for traveling nurses and sometimes tried to steal the nurses we had.

The ultimate mistake made that will need to be fixed at the next legislative session is the $0.65/day increase in the rate State Medicaid pays nursing homes received less than a 1% rate increase during a pandemic, while caring for the most vulnerable Montanans. A similar 0.3% rate increase is scheduled for July 1 - less than 1% over a two-year period. These rates are what these facilities depend on to operate day to day.

Mistakes happen, fine. That is why the State of Montana has $400 million in reserves. When I was in the legislature, we always had a bill to take care of extra fire expenses, disasters, cost overruns in our prisons, and any other crisis that happened between sessions. This money was okayed by the Governor, and the legislature approved this the next session. Our reserves at Valley View will be gone by midsummer.

We have had donations and received some county money, but it will not be enough. Valley View and other nursing homes are looking at what closing will look like, and the cost involved. All state help related to covid ended in October, but covid didn’t end. We are in year three of high costs, decreased revenues and severe workforce shortages. Governor Gianforte has been the most troubling. He sells himself as a businessman which is why he got my vote. ARPA workforce funds are readily available to help with recruitment and retention of workers, but his answer has been no. His response to this nursing home problem is to do nothing. A current example of doing nothing is the mess at the southern border. It shows us what doing nothing looks like. You do not do anything bad, you just do nothing. A businessman who has run a business for a short time may think that makes sense, but by not helping with short term money through a crisis, it often costs more in the long run. If many of the more rural nursing homes close it is because they do not have short term help. We will then need places for the elderly so the government will spend a lot of money building nursing homes in the bigger cities. Tens of millions of dollars spent in a shortterm crisis will save hundreds of millions of dollars on future spending.

The time has come for the governor and my republican legislative friends to do something. Let’s prove that we can not only start new businesses but keep the older nursing home businesses

Valley Views Daryl Toews Former MT State Senator

Life goes on, right?

Ihad a breakthrough yesterday — and I don’t mean metaphorically.

Wars rage, countless humans suffer, the rich get richer, life goes on. I still have my morning coffee. But not yesterday.

What happened — about 5 a.m. — was a fleeting insight into life beyond its small certainties and routines. When life suddenly spins out of control, the Great Unknown is momentarily present. I have decided to write about it, or try to write about it, to honor the vulnerable everywhere.

That hour of the morning is not my normal get-up time, but as I enter geezerhood (I turned 75 half a year ago) I find myself waking up throughout the night and heading with sudden urgency to the bathroom. No big deal. This is part of the routine.

Another part of my geezerhood is a condition called peripheral neuropathy, my special conundrum, once described to me as a disconnect between the nerves in my feet and my brain. I still have feelings there, I just lack a portion of control. My balance is iffy, especially if I’m barefoot. And the medical world is apparently clueless about it. Nonetheless, the condition is also only a modest deal — it’s part of my life. I work with it. I use a cane or walking sticks, at least some of the time. I’m also conscious of the need to stay focused and balanced. A nuisance situation is worked into the routine. Things could be so much worse. My life goes on.

But yesterday morning, 5 a.m., yeah, you guessed it. I got up, put my feet on the floor, started walking to the bathroom when . . . whoa! What? Huh? For some unknown reason I began to totter. For an unforgettable second or two, there were no parameters or certainties in my life. I was helpless. I was hurtling into the unknown.

I tipped backward, fell against the nightstand and — kersmash! — slammed my right elbow into the

Valley Views Robert C. Koehler Peacevoice

see page 11 in business. And maybe taking care of our elderly can be valued as one of those “high paying jobs” worth training for and having.

Daryl Toews is a Former Montana State Senator and Valley View Home board member.

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from page 10 bedroom window, shattering it. This was my “breakthrough.”

Pardon the pun. This was an unbearably memorable moment of vulnerability. Amidst the chaos, noise and pain, I remember also feeling a sense of relief, crazy as that may sound — relief that I was alone, that I didn’t wake anyone up. That feeling passed in an instant as I struggled to get up, clutching my bleeding upper right arm. Oh! How come I hadn’t married a nurse?

I stumbled into the bathroom, held the bleeding arm up to the mirror. There were several cuts. I did my best — turned on the cold water, swooshed away the blood, dried the arm (no doubt ruining a towel) and smeared Neosporin on the wounds. Then I did the best I could, wrapping gauze around the upper arm. This calmed me down, at least to some extent. I even started picking up — carefully — the broken glass. And, surprisingly, I was even able to go back to bed. I slept for several hours.

Ah, morning! 8 a.m. Now what? For some reason I didn’t feel like pushing forward with the day’s normal routine, i.e., starting serious column research. My right arm hurt like hell. There were splotches and splatters of blood on the floor. I knew that my bandaged wounds needed further attention.

I drove myself to a nearby emergency room, figuring what they’ll do is bandage my arm more professionally. They did a bit more than that: They gave me an x-ray, determining there was no glass remaining in any of the wounds. Then a young woman named Bridget sewed up one of the wounds with five stitches, washed and wrapped the others. Now I sit here with my upper right arm wrapped in gauze. I can’t rest my elbow on the desk because, you know, ouch! But I feel back within the parameters of my life again — a life I think I understand. The problem’s under control, right?

Is it possible I managed to learn something yesterday? I don’t mean something in the “be careful” category, important as that may be, but rather, as I feel myself drift cautiously back to a sense of normalcy, a tiny sliver of that breakthrough moment — OMG, my life is out of my control — stays stuck in my consciousness, undetected by the hospital x-ray. In that moment, I didn’t know who I was or what would happen in the next second. It felt like a glimpse of life beyond the invented world: a stunned glimpse of way too much reality.

All insight ends here. I’m back to work again, reading about the vulnerable, feeling my heart race with outrage at what we do to one another. What we do to ourselves.

Robert Koehler, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago award-winning journalist and editor.

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Choral society says thanks

Editor,

“Many hands make light work” rings true for the creation and deliverance of “The Awakening” Mission Valley Choral Society concerts held on Palm Sunday weekend. No more than four specific names can be used here, so a general thank you follows.

Thank you to Mission Valley Choral Society director Christian Bumgarner and accompanist Karla Gallatin as well as choral leaders. Thank you to three churches for the use of their facilities: New Life Church for practices; the St. Ignatius Mission Church for the Saturday concert, and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church for the Sunday concert and meal. A special thank you to Father Kevin Christofferson and parishioners of ICCC for meal set-up, preparation, serving and clean-up.

Food donations were crucial to create a tasty ham, potatoes, salad and dessert meal. A special thank you to Julie Conrad, Blooming Joy Farms in Ronan for donating hams. And an all- encompassing thank you to those who provided salads and desserts.

A high-five to the Polson High School National Honor Society advisor and students for hanging event posters.

Donations for Mission Valley Choral Society taken at the Saturday concert totaled $464 to be used for music. Mission Valley Choral Society’s mailing address: MVCS, P.O. Box 1165, Polson, MT 59860. Donations for Helping Hands of Mission Valley taken at the Sunday concert and meal totaled $2,705 to be used to help atrisk residents. The Helping Hands mailing address is P.O. Box 1094, Polson, MT 59860.

Thank you to the folks of Lake County for supporting “The Awakening” of music in the valley.

Valerie Lindstrom Event Promotion

Endorsement given

Editor,

I am honored to publicly support Don Bell’s reelection campaign for Sheriff of Lake County. Having known and worked with Don for more than thirty years, I can state without hesitation that he is exactly the person Lake County needs for Sheriff. During my thirty-five years in law enforcement here in the Lake County, I had many occasions to observe Don as a law enforcement officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal police. At all times Don exhibited true common sense and diplomatic talent that made him an outstanding police officer. As a former Polson Police Officer/Detective, I have observed Don as Sheriff these last eight years. Don’s talent and experience continues to shine. Don’s work ethic, sense of justice, and fine inter-personal skills highly qualify him for the challenges of the office of Lake County Sheriff - and I simply cannot imagine a better candidate for the job.

Rick Schoening Polson

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