By Lora Cowee, MPA, Chief Operations Officer, Intermountain The last time I caught a cold, after the first three days I thought I was feeling better. I was wrong. That “cold” continued to hang on until I was coughing so much I couldn’t sleep or sit through a meeting. I ended up going to the … Read more
By Michelle Hauer, MPA, CHPSE, Intermountain Quality Assurance Director There is a level of chaos that ensues in one’s house when Mom utters those four dreaded words, “The relatives are coming.” I often wondered what the fuss was about. My cluttered room didn’t say anything about who I was or how I was raised, other … Read more
By Marvin Williams, Director of Education at Intermountain Imagine being away from home in a setting where you don’t want to be in the first place and you are only 7 or 10 or 4 or 13 years old. That’s how the children who come to Intermountain’s Residential Program feel. Parents and educators believe that … Read more
It was a long time before I realized that I wanted to become a psychologist. I was four years old when I first considered a long-term vocation. At the time, I was certain that I would grow up to ride dragons and partake in legendary misadventures. By my ninth birthday, I had instead realized that … Read more
By Joelle Johnson, LCSW, LAC, Intermountain Project Director As parents, we naturally want to protect our children from everything we can, sometimes even the consequences of their own choices. After watching the news and seeing another story about a local high school student dying in an alcohol-related car accident or college kids being taken to … Read more
By Glenna Wortman-Obie, MA, Director of Marketing and Communication Michael Kalous remembers his first Thanksgiving at Intermountain. “I walked into the dining room and there was so much food I couldn’t believe it—and we could have anything we wanted!” he says. It was called the Montana Deaconess Home then, and it was one of the … Read more
By Adam Jespersen, Associate Director of Development Every organization that exists for any length of time experiences critical events that serve to define the course of the future. Call them forks in the road, pivotal moments, or just “really big deals,” these events shape the organization and force it to adapt. As a 106-year-old nonprofit, … Read more
By Christina Lipetzky, Intermountain Director of Human Resources Every day, I get the opportunity to interact with superheroes. It’s not a requirement, an obligation, or a directive. I get to. And these superheroes – let me tell you about them. They’re the people showing up to work every day with a spirit to help others, … Read more
By Cathy Huntley, Childwise Communications and Project Manager The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is possibly the most important public health study ever done, and the largest study of its kind. The study examines the health and social effects of ACEs over the lifespan, demonstrating that childhood adversity appears to determine the likelihood of the … Read more
By Meegan Bryce, MSW, Intermountain Residential Director We all experience moments of keen awareness that there are certain jobs we could just never do. For me there are many–hospice worker, accountant, politician–just to name a few. When I tell people about our work at Intermountain they occasionally say, “I don’t know how you do it.” … Read more
