Latest news with #Bjerke
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UND staff members say Center for Aerospace Medicine will serve as resource to pilots throughout the state
May 27—GRAND FORKS — With the passage of House Bill 1612, UND will be able to expand mental health support and Federal Aviation Administration medical certification assistance to pilots throughout the state. "(The bill allows) us to take what we've built here in Grand Forks and help pilots across the state of North Dakota," said Elizabeth Bjerke, UND's associate dean of aerospace. "North Dakota has the highest pilot per-capita rate in the country — there's a lot of pilots in the state of North Dakota, which is exciting. Now we're poised to help them." Signed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong on April 29, House Bill 1612 will allow UND to establish the North Dakota Center for Aerospace Medicine, which is a very new concept, Bjerke said. Up to $250,000 in one-time funding was allocated to establish the center, according to a press release the university issued Wednesday, May 14. The Center for Aerospace Medicine will address the unique standards for pilots, such as the routine medical physicals required to allow them to maintain a medical certificate and continue flying, according to Jessica Doty, director of student health services. Because the bill passed, pilots throughout North Dakota will be able to meet with aviation medical examiners (AMEs) located at UND, according to Rep. Landon Bahl, R-Grand Forks, who was the primary sponsor of the bill. In the past, UND's AMEs only met with UND student pilots, while others had to travel out of state to meet with AMEs, who are trained specifically by the FAA, which oversees medical requirements and determines what diagnoses and medications may affect a pilot's certification. House Bill 1612 will also allow UND to do additional work to increase awareness and outreach, Bjerke said. Some of those efforts will include working directly with pilots, but there will also be efforts to teach health care providers and UND medical school students what pilots' needs and standards are. How exactly to move forward is still being discussed, Bjerke said. Another mental health professional may be hired to accommodate the anticipated increase in clientele. The Center for Aerospace Medicine will function as a collaboration between campus partners, including the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Student Health Services and University Counseling Center. "UND is just so uniquely set up for this, because we have the medical school; we have the aerospace college, with 2,000 students learning to fly airplanes; we've got our student health (department) that does 1,000 of these aviation medical (evaluations) a year, and has been doing them from 40 years; we have our counseling center with psychologists who are trained specifically on this aviation psychology piece," Bjerke said. "So we just have all the right players right here at UND. It only makes sense to really come together for this initiative." The purpose of pilot health requirements is to protect both them and their passengers, but one consequence is that pilots sometimes hesitate to disclose mental health concerns or seek help, Doty said. "When a pilot has any sort of mental health diagnosis or mental health needs, their medical certificate's at risk," she said. This issue came to the forefront during the pandemic, when UND staff realized how challenging it was for student pilots to seek help, particularly due to concerns that they would risk disrupting their flight training. An aviation mental health task force was formed, and different stakeholders were brought in to address the problem. "Despite that effort, tragedy befell UND aviation in the fall of 2021 with the death of John Hauser, who was on a training flight to Fargo," the university's press release said. Hauser's death, determined to be a suicide, was something of a catalyst for the university, Bjerke said. Since then, a number of initiatives have been enacted, including establishing the annual Aviation Mental Health Summit and directing $600,000 in investment funds to building an aerospace network that would increase students' access to care, according to the release. "We've been building a UND to better serve the state of North Dakota, and the pilots and air traffic controllers across the state," Bjerke said. Hauser's death was not only impactful to current UND students and staff; it also had an impact on Bahl, who was in the same fraternity as Hauser — Delta Tau Delta. "That's really what started, I would say, a lot of these conversations — especially at the university level — in terms of mental health within aviation," Bahl said. A second pilot from the same fraternity died by suicide within a year, prompting Bahl to pursue solutions at the federal level. He said he was disheartened to learn how challenging the process would be, but determined, he sought local help. He connected with Bjerke and Doty early on in this legislative session, and they made the proposal that would ultimately become House Bill 1612. The bill had tremendous support, with supporting testimony from 40 fraternity brothers and approximately 20 others, Bahl said. The bill's passage is a step in the right direction, but his hopes do not end there. "The much larger win is when we are able to change federal regulations and the strong, stringent guidelines that they put on pilots — because that's ultimately what ensures that pilots do or don't go seek help," Bahl said. "The day will come where the FAA will look at what we're doing here in our state, and we'll be a huge, huge guide for them to start to change FAA guidelines."
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Idaho Senate says health workers shouldn't have to violate religious beliefs to provide care
Idaho state Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, (right) listens to proceedings during the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee meeting on Jan. 7, 2025, at the State Capitol Building in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) The Idaho Senate voted along party lines Monday to pass a bill that prevents health care professionals and entities from being forced to participate in nonemergency procedures that would violate their sincerely held religious or moral beliefs. Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, and Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, co-sponsored House Bill 59, which they named the Medical Ethics Defense Act. The bill states, in part: 'Health care providers shall have the right of conscience and, pursuant to this right, shall not be required to participate in or pay for a medical procedure, treatment, or service that violates such health care provider's conscience.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Bjerke said the bill was patterned after a law passed during the 2024 legislative session, Senate Bill 1352, which states that counselors and therapists are not required to counsel clients in support of goals, outcomes or behaviors that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. Bjerke told senators Monday his new bill would apply many of the same principles from last year's counselors bill and apply it to health care professionals. 'This proposed legislation is intended to protect conscience rights of health care professionals and health care entities. It protects them from being forced to participate in non-emergency procedures that would violate their sincerely held religious moral or ethical beliefs,' Bjerke said. On the other hand, Sen. Ron Taylor, D-Hailey, said the bill fundamentally confuses the relationship between personal conscience and professional duty. 'This bill, in its current form, I believe, would transform Idaho's health care system from one based on patient needs to one based more on provider preferences,' Taylor said. 'It would allow any health care provider, any worker, any ambulance operator, hospital employee or health care payer, the ability to deny anyone medical care based on claiming an objection due to their conscience.' CONTACT US If passed into law, Taylor worried the bill would allow ambulance drivers to object to transporting a patient if the patient did something to offend them, or a hospital staffer could refuse to admit a pregnant woman suffering a miscarriage if the staffer opposed abortion, or a pharmacist could refuse to prescribe vaccines or antidepressants if it violated their personal beliefs. In the end, the Senate voted 28-6 to pass the bill. All Senate Republicans voted in favor of it, while all six Senate Democrats voted against it. The Idaho House of Representatives already voted 58-11 to pass the bill Feb. 11, but since then the Idaho Senate amended the bill. House Bill 59 now heads back to the Idaho House for House members to consider whether to agree with the Senate amendment. If the Idaho House agrees with the amendment, the bill would be sent to Gov. Brad Little for final consideration. If the bill reaches Little's desk, he could sign it into law, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. If the bill is passed into law, it would take effect immediately upon being signed into law. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee advances bill with changes to EMS operations
Idaho state Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, (right) listens to proceedings during the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee meeting on Jan. 7, 2025, at the State Capitol Building in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) This story was first published by Idaho Reports on March 3, 2025. Major changes could be coming to emergency medical services in Idaho as the Senate State Affairs Committee advanced a bill that transfers EMS Bureau's responsibilities to the Idaho Military Division. Idaho has never declared EMS an essential service, such as police and fire. As a result, the state is not required to fund it. For decades, EMS has struggled to find funding, and many agencies rely heavily on volunteers and donations. This bill moves the Emergency Medical Services Bureau from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and relocates it into the Idaho Military Division. The Military Division already coordinates emergency management with state and local government through the Office of Emergency Management. The bill still does not deem EMS essential, but calls it 'critical to the life, health, and safety of Idahoans.' House Bill 206, sponsored by Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, heads to the Senate after it passed the House of Representatives 53-15 last week. Last year's to bill to fund EMS services, declaring it an essential service, failed to make it out of committee. Local counties and cities would still have control over their own EMS programs and dispatching 911 calls. Idaho has 196 cities and 88% of the state is rural, Bjerke said. EMS availability varies widely county by county, and many counties do not have ambulance taxing districts to fund the service in the state. 'It's time for us to decide how we're going to structure EMS in the state,' Bjerke argued. In 2021, the Office of Performance Evaluations published a report on emergency medical services in rural Idaho, highlighting funding and staffing challenges as well as pointing out that about 7 out of 10 emergency medical workers are volunteers. Should the bill pass, it would also ask for a shift of funding and $150,000 one-time Emergency Medical Services dedicated fund spending authority to cover the cost of transition expenses, $60,000 to contract with a physician to serve as a part-time state EMS medical director to replace the Idaho Emergency Medical Services Physician Commission. Overall, the state would still not declare that emergency medical services are essential, but the bill may put agencies in a better position to work together. The bill would not provide new funding for individual agencies. Kelli Brassfield, policy adviser for the Idaho Association of Counties, testified in support of the bill, saying the majority of counties are supportive. There was no opposition to the bill in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday. The bill must pass the Senate before heading to Gov. Brad Little for consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Idaho bill to ban mask mandates clears Legislature by wide margin. It may soon become law
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Idaho's public health districts covering cities and counties issued mask mandates. The rules were meant to protect people from contracting the respiratory virus, which killed more than 1.2 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gov. Brad Little never implemented a statewide mask mandate. But Republican lawmakers have for years feared that a future governor — or cities and counties — might, and have sought to block such a rule. On Friday, that effort in the form of House Bill 32 passed the Senate by a wide margin and and was sent to Little's desk. Sponsored by Rep. Robert Beiswenger, R-Horseshoe Bend, the bill would block any government entity in Idaho — including cities, schools and public health districts — from mandating masks or face shields. 'COVID presented us with quite the enigma. We didn't really know what it was or what to do, but that is no excuse to violate the rights of the citizens of the state of Idaho,' Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, said on the Senate floor Friday. 'It's my personal belief that some people's health was affected. I'm not a doctor, so that's just my personal opinion.' Beiswenger told a House committee last month that his bill aimed to counteract 'overreach' during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. He sponsored the same bill in 2024, which passed out of the House but died in the Senate. His proposal follows a series of efforts by Idaho Republicans to limit public health requirements in the state. Little, a Republican, signed a law in 2023 which prohibits most employers — public and private — from mandating vaccines as a condition of employment, the Statesman previously reported. In 2021, then-Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, also a Republican, issued an executive order banning masks, on a day when Little was out of town and she was acting governor. The next day, Little reversed her order, calling it a 'political stunt.' On Friday, Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Couer D'Alene, spoke in support of the bill, decrying 'ridiculous' parts of mask mandates during COVID-19. He recalled hearing from people who supported waitstaff with masks in restaurants, even as seated patrons were not required to wear them. 'I go, 'Do you know what a mask is? It's a filter, just like your HVAC filter. When that waitress is wearing that mask, everything that she was breathing in collected on that mask,' ' said Bjerke, who serves on the Senate's Health and Welfare Committee. 'Every time she talked to you and talked over your food, all that collected matter came on to your food.' Mask requirements were the 'federal government telling us what to do,' Bjerke said. 'And nobody had the desire or the wherewithal to fight back.' Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, said mask mandates during the pandemic 'eroded' public trust in health districts in Idaho. This bill, he said, 'draws the line between advisory and compulsory.' 'It's saying that we value public health, but we value individual freedoms just as much, if not more,' he said Friday on the Senate floor. 'By moving this legislation forward, we're taking essential steps toward restoring public confidence and showing Idaho that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated in the future.' Idaho Legislature considers ban on mask mandates aimed at stopping the spread of disease Idaho lawmaker wants to ban mask mandates for public employees amid COVID surge
