As emergency physicians at Community Medical Center and Providence St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, we would like to give you a view from inside our local hospitals regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. With Missoula’s spike in patients infected with the COVID-19 virus, we are seeing a similar surge of patients in our Emergency Departments. Some people who have only mild … [Read more...] about Missoula doctors: Continued surge in COVID will soon tip local healthcare system

In these times of turmoil, Americans are flocking to our public parks, forests and rivers like never before. We are quite literally seeking shelter from the storm where we can socially distance and have our spirits regenerated by the solace and beauty of wild nature. It should therefore come as no surprise that Americans overwhelmingly support protection of our public lands … [Read more...] about Congress must pass Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act: Here’s why

It seems that almost anybody watching someone work believes they can do the job as well or better than the person who is actually doing it, especially if the person watching has never done it before. When I hired on at the brickyard in Lewistown in 1974, the boss pointed to a group of workmen taking wet brick off a conveyer belt and stacking them on small railcars, which … [Read more...] about Montana Viewpoint: Protocol, politeness, patience and compromise

As a health journalist, a physician and a former foreign correspondent who lived through SARS in Beijing, I often get questions from friends, colleagues and people I don’t even know about how to live during the pandemic. Do I think it’s safe to plan a real wedding next June? Would I send my kids to school, with appropriate precautions? When will I trust a vaccine? To the … [Read more...] about Take it from an expert: Fauci’s hierarchy of safety during COVID