MONTANA HEALTH PROFESSIONALS FOR A HEALTHY CLIMATE

MTHPHC on Our Montana

8/23/2024

Board members Lori and Rob Byron were on Community 7 this week to talk about the health threats of climate change.

Kootenai Climate Group Clears the air in Lincoln County

8/5/2024

Eight smiling older people stand in front of a stack of hundreds of box fans. In front of them is an air filter, made by attaching a furnace filter to the front of a box fan.

Kootenai Climate Group board members surrounded by their fans.

Our friends at the Kootenai Climate Group scored a win for folks living with with lung disease in Lincoln County!

Libby is home to the W.R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine, the epicenter of the largest asbestos cleanup project in the US. While there's been good progress in the asbestos cleanup, Lincoln county still has highest asbestos-related mortality rate in the country. Asbestos-related diseases often affect the lungs, and make folks more vulnerable to air pollution like the wildfire smoke we're seeing more and more of.

Box fan filter display at the CARD clinic.

So, the Kootenai Climate Group took matters into their hands and got 120 air filter kits, which are being given out through all three senior citizen centers in Lincoln County. The kits are ingenious and low-cost, made by attaching a MERV-13 furnace filter to a box fan.

Forty more units also went to Families in Partnership, which serves low income families with young children. Finally, they gave the Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) Clinic twenty more high-tech HEPA air purifiers for at-risk patients. We applaud our friends at the Kootenai Climate Group for keeping folks in Libby safe and healthy!

Interested in making your own air filter kit? All it takes is a box fan, some duct tape, and a MERV 13 furnace filter (found at any hardware store). We've got instructions on the patient tab of our Wildfire Smoke Health Toolkit.

Summer Book Club At B&GC

7/2/2024

Our friends at Boys & Girls Club of Missoula joined us for some more climate-themed books and activities during summer club this year! Books included:

Winston of Churchill by Jean Davies Okimoto
We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
I Have the Right to Save My Planet by Alaine Serres
Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan

Each book was paired with an activity. Our favorite was Run and Scream, a traditional Blackfoot game from our own childhoods where the goal is to run the farthest while being as loud as you can in one breath! We want to encourage kids to use their voices, because we know they are a powerful force for good. Many thanks to B&GC for their partnership.

Front Page, Billings Gazette ! Air Pollution and Health

5/24/2024

The Billings Gazette tells the true story of the challenges facing the Colstrip power plant. The new EPA MATS standards are already met by every power plant of its type in the country through installing technology to protect human health that has been available for 30 years... except for Colstrip! Every decade tons of lead, arsenic and other health-dangerous elements are needlessly emitted.
Drs. Bob Merchant (pulmonology) and Lori Byron (Pediatrics) were on a recent telepresser event to explain.

New MATS Standards Mean Clean Air for Montana

4/28/2024

Ten people holding orange handwritten signs giving reasons Colstrip's power plant should upgrade.

New EPA "MATS" (Mercury and Air Toxics Standards) for power plants were just released. Almost every plant in the US has protected human health by installing the technology needed to meet these standards; Colstrip is one of the outliers. For the sake of public health, we do not want to see Congress repeal them. Please sign our petition to Montana's Congressional delegation here and help us protect Montana's healthy air.

"Why is Coco Red?" at B&GC of Missoula

4/28/2024

A B&GC member reads her book to friends.

We've partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Missoula so kids can learn about air quality safety, and they had a blast! The EPA's project, AirNow.gov, created the book Why is Coco Red to explain air quality levels in a fun and kid-friendly way. Each child received a book to take home, and B&GC staff got kids up and moving with a game of red light/green light to underscore the importance of air quality flag colors.

We really enjoyed partnering with B&GC, who are just as invested in child development as our pediatricians. We hope to bring this program to more childcare facilities, so if you or someone you know works in childcare and cares about air quality, please contact us!

Montana's giving days in just a few days!

4/25/2024

Montana Giving Days starts next week! Hundreds of non-profits are registered in the major cities for this on-lin giving opportunity. Look them up and like and find charities you love to donate to!
Bozeman/Gallatin C: https://www.givebiggv.org
Missoula/Bitterroot: https://www.missoulagives.org
Billings/YellowstoneValley: https://www.yellowstonegives.org
Greater Helena: https://www.greaterhelenagives.org

We are registered for all of them, and so are many other great groups!

EARTh day Billings, April 20,2024

4/21/2024

EARTH DAY, BOZEMAN, April 20, 2024

4/21/2024

Climate and health in the 406 conference, Billings 4/13

4/14/2024

Tom Mexicancheyenne starts our day with a reminder of native environmental stewardship ethos.

Speakers and staff take a quick selfie after the conference.

Sixty-one people attended our second annual conference, this time in Billings! What a fantastic day of learning about health decarbonization, hospital sustainability, drought's effects on health, climate health communication, and public health.

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Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate