Wyoming News Briefs

East gate opens earlier for snowmobiles

CODY (WNE) – For the last two decades snowmobile enthusiasts have been gaining ground as far as access to Yellowstone National Park.

They will now get 20 extra days to access Yellowstone in the winter from the East Entrance. 

It’s an effort Dede Fales, co-owner of Gary Fales Outfitting, has lobbied for extensively.

On Wednesday, the Park announced it will bump up its opening date for the gate from Dec. 22 to Tuesday. In the spring, the Entrance will now close on March 15 instead of the prior date of March 2. The change of dates will now align the East Entrance to the seasonal openings and closures occurring at the Park’s other gates, thus standardizing the winter season in the Park.

The one exception is the road from the Park’s North Entrance at Gardiner through Mammoth Hot Springs to Cooke City. This road is plowed and open to automobiles all year.

All openings and closures will be subject to weather conditions.

In the past, avalanche concerns on Sylvan Pass led to a different operating season for the east gate, but “with many years of implementation, the NPS now has the operational capacity and expertise to safely open the pass on December 15 and to keep it open until March 15,” Yellowstone announced in an October release.

For Cody’s only snowmobile guide company, Gary Fales Outfitting, it could provide a substantial increase in business, with 20 more days to serve clients and make money each year.

Park regulations state that snowmobiles lose their certification after about six years of use, meaning Fales and her husband Gary will now get about 120 more commercial days out of each sled.

Campbell County Hospital navigates hospital capacity concerns

GILLETTE (WNE) — An influx of patients and shortage of health care staff has created a conundrum for hospital administration to solve during the latest leg of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, hospital trustees approved Campbell County Memorial Hospital surgeons to perform surgeries at Powder River Surgery Center, where they are not credentialed for surgery, as needed while the surgical suites in the hospital are occupied by COVID-19 patient overflow.

The hospital is anticipating using some of the surgical suites to treat patients because its number of COVID-19 patients continues to grow and consume hospital space for other non-COVID-19 patients.

Staffing has been a persistent issue for CCH throughout the months-long wave of COVID-19. On average, between 80 and 130 employees have been away from work due to illness or quarantine through the past few months.

The hospital opened up a 10-bed alternate care site on the hospital’s fourth floor on Wednesday to care for some of the non-COVID-19 patients. The hospital has had less and less space for those patients since the number of COVID-19 patients has risen, said Misty Robertson, chief nursing operator. 

Two separate Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, which are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and comprised of medical professionals, flew into Gillette to support the hospital.

The Wyoming Army National Guard has also allocated 10 soldiers to help perform non-medical jobs.

Some of the $10 million Gov. Mark Gordon freed up in CARES Act money recently was used to pay for and bring in traveling medical personnel to assist the hospital. CCH received about 30 health care workers through that program earlier this month.

UW proposes spring semester schedule

LARAMIE (WNE) — The University of Wyoming’s proposed spring 2021 semester would include ten weeks of in-person instruction, a three-day spring break and five weeks of fully online classes to conclude the term, under a draft plan being presented Wednesday to UW’s Board of Trustees.

The semester would begin with two days of online-only instruction Thursday and Friday, Jan. 21-22, and face-to-face classes would begin Monday, Jan. 25. Following the abbreviated March 31-April 4 spring break, all classes would move to online delivery, with the final day of classes May 6 and finals week May 10-14.

The draft plan represents the university’s best effort to deliver as much of an exceptional on-campus experience as possible amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. The Board of Trustees was scheduled to discuss the proposal during Thursday’s regular teleconference meeting and then vote on the plan during a special meeting Wednesday, Dec. 16.

“While we anticipate that the spring semester will look very much like Phases 3 and 4 of the fall semester, it is uncertain when the current statewide surge in COVID-19 cases will subside and what will be the impact of the holiday season,” UW President Ed Seidel said. “So, even as we bring this to the board with the intention of moving forward with a semester that includes on-campus experiences for students, we will continue to work with and follow guidance from our partners at the Wyoming Department of Health and Albany County Public Health.”

League of Women Voters honors Army Guard general

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Retired Brigadier General Kathy Wright has devoted her life to promoting the ideals of a democratic society, as both the first female general officer to serve in the Wyoming Army National Guard and a longtime organizer for Wyoming Girls State.

Wright’s lifetime of service to the people of Wyoming earned her the League of Women Voters of Wyoming’s 2019 Making Democracy Work Award, which the league presented to her during a virtual ceremony Thursday evening – on Wyoming Women’s Suffrage Day.

Although the LWV had planned to honor Wright at a big in-person ceremony earlier this year, it, like so many other events, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Her leadership – that ability to influence – and the timing of her natural career progression placed her front and center to pave the way to achieve a number of female firsts in the organization,” said Gayle Baugh, retired command sergeant major for the Army Guard, who first met Wright in the mid-1980s. “Very noticeable to me was her professional competence to change and improve the organization’s culture. To help leaders in our ranks find value in our rich diversity.”

The LWV does not award the honor annually – the last award was presented in 2017 – but rather when it identifies a Wyoming resident who has “safeguarded democracy in our community state and nation,” said Rosalind Schliske, secretary of the Cheyenne League of Women Voters.