CHI St. Alexius Health welcomes media professionals to work with the media relations team to arrange interviews and stories and to visit the facilities. If you are a member of the media and would like to speak to a member of our media relations team, please click here.
Burleigh County is an opioid hot spot for injured workers
Burleigh County health providers are by far the heaviest prescribers of narcotic painkillers for injured workers covered by the North Dakota workers’ compensation program.
Prescribers in the county, which includes Bismarck, have accounted for half or more of all opioid prescriptions paid for by Workforce Safety and Insurance (WSI) for more than a decade, far surpassing the amounts for other counties, according to reviews of the agency that examined narcotic use.
Last year, for example, narcotic painkillers prescribed by providers in Burleigh County totaled more than $1.5 million, or 53.7 percent of total opioid prescriptions paid for by WSI, a state-run insurance program for injured workers.
Hospitals to post price list starting January 1
A federal law is mandating hospitals post their list of prices starting on January 1, 2019.
Santa visits children in the hospital
Santa is spreading some holiday cheer with children at CHI St. Alexius Health. The Fraternal Order of Police in Bismarck brought Santa to visit families staying in the hospital for Christmas. They've done this for 19 years and say it is a great way to give back to the community.
Study: Heart Attacks Highest On Christmas Eve
While the holidays are supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, new research shows it can also be the most deadly. A recent study published in the British Medical Journal says your greatest risk for a heart attack, is actually today.
More specifically around 10pm tonight.
Firefighters spread cheer during the holidays
The Bismarck Fire Department offers gifts to patients at CHI St. Alexius Health for the holidays. It's the holiday season and what better way to spend it than with your family and friends.
But, some people won't be home, they will be spending their time in the hospital.
"He is 37 weeks and was born at 28 weeks. So, he was 2 pounds and 8 ounces when he was born," said Stephanie Abernatheuy, Bismarck Resident.
Bismarck's first baby of 2019 born at CHI St. Alexius Health
Finlee Elizabeth came into the world at 12:13 a.m. New Year's Day. The first baby born in this year in Bismarck, the little girl weighs 6 pounds, 15 ounces and is 22 inches long.
"I loved the name Finlee since I was a little girl," said mother Michele Kowalski, of Wishek. Kowalski spelled Finlee with two e's at the end after Finlee's grandpa, Lee Kowalski. "She hardly makes a squeak," Kowalski said of her contented newborn. "She's a very good baby." And Kowalski would know. Finlee is her first child but she's an aunt to her brother and sister's six children. "She's got a lot of auntie practice under her belt," said her sister, Theresa Hagen.
Homegrown with Hope: The program that helps pregnant moms quit smoking
As we look ahead to 2019, it's time to take stock of what we can improve in our lives. One of the greatest changes parents can make for themselves helps their children, too: quitting smoking.
The Baby and Me Tobacco Free Program helps pregnant women across North Dakota do that. In this Homegrown with Hope, we learn why this program is so effective at reducing the state's pregnancy smoking rates.
New study confirms physical therapy, not opioids, for pain management
If opioids weren't so effective at masking pain, far fewer people would get addicted to them and potentially end their lives. Finding helpful alternatives can be the key. A new Journal of the American Medical Association study indicates that the answer may be physical therapy. It was shown to lower the chances of opioid dependency from data collected from nearly 90,000 Americans over a nine-year window.
