Big Sky Relief addresses mental, physical health

EBS STAFF

BIG SKY—With three meetings under its belt, the Big Sky Relief Fund has brought community partners together to illuminate community needs as well as gather and disseminate information on the efforts under way to support those needs. Various organization representatives at the last two meetings have identified mental health as a current priority.

On Tuesday, March 31, Sergeant Brandon Kelley from the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office reported an increase in calls related to theft as well as mental health issues and asked that the community be especially vigilant in spotting early signs of depression or negatively evolving mental health issues.

In recognition of this issue as well as those tangentially related, Women in Action has been consistently reporting updates to mental health projects. Most recently, WIA added a new practitioner, Kasey Anderson, who is currently accepting new clients.

During the March 27 meeting, the Big Sky Community Organization shared that they were working with four different committees on expanding behavior programming. WIA announced at the most recent meeting that a COVID-19 behavioral health resource guide will launch on their website by the end of the week.

A cooperation between BSCO, WIA and the Bozeman Health Big Sky Medical Center seeks to launch pop-up emergency and urgent mental and behavioral health care facility for anyone in Gallatin County.

On the physical health front, BHSMC will open their Viral Triage Clinic by the end of this week, serving the purpose of separating both potentially affected COVID-19 patients from the general population as well as triage-clinic staff from other staff.

Three additional ventilators are scheduled to arrive within 7-10 days and a COVID-19 analyzer will arrive within the next two months.

Other key updates from the last two Big Sky Relief Operational Partners Coordination meetings came from the Big Sky Community Food Bank, which will start to provide service information in Spanish, as well as the Big Sky Transportation District, which is currently providing on-demand response local service. BSTD will transport no more than three healthy passengers at a time and service is available upon request for at-risk individuals.

The Big Sky Chamber of Commerce continues to provide resources so that businesses and community members can better navigate unique hardships as well as take advantage of aid options.

“There’s a huge group effort going on,” Kevin Germain, Big Sky Resort Area District Board chairperson said in a brief recap video following the March 27 meeting, available on the fund’s website. The next operational partners meeting will take place on Friday, April 3.

To review the minutes for these meetings, visit bigskyrelief.org.