Health Programs

The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships For Mental Health Journalism 1999-2000

Pat Bellinghausen

Assistant Editor, Billings Gazette
Former Assistant City Editor, Billings Gazette
Billings, Montana

TOPIC: The needs of people with mental illnesses in rural communities

Gazette Opinion: HUB Needs Local Support to Serve Needy
It's 10 till 10 on a chilly May morning. Four middle-aged men dressed in jackets, jeans and baseball caps sit on a low concrete wall outside the long brick building at 515 North 27th Street. They wait for the HUB to open.

Gazette Opinion: Ensure Healthier Future -- Cover Kids
Covering Montana children should be a first step in Montana's effort to reduce the state's high rate of uninsured residents. 

Editorial: Taking Suicide Seriously
A recent series of suicides at Montana State Prison and the high overall rate of suicide in Montana have spurred state leaders to action.

Editorial: Medicaid Redesign Offers Risks, Rewards
Medicaid is the program "nobody loves" because it's costly, cumbersome and pays low rates for care. And it's "a lifesaver for thousands of Montanans," covering 40 percent of births and 60 percent of nursing home residents. 

Editorial: Redesign Medicaid to Fit Montana Needs
Montana public health officials have undertaken a long-overdue effort to redesign state-funded health-care programs. Medicaid and other programs, such as the Children's Health Insurance Program, must change to meet the goals of serving needy Montanans and the demands of funding limits.

Putting Names and Faces on Rural Mental Health Issues
What Theron Jorgenson remembered most about her trip to Montana State Hospital was the humiliation of being handcuffed by a sheriff's deputy at the local hospital.   "He handcuffed me right in front of everybody," the soft spoken woman told me when I visited her basement apartment. "It was degrading."