Diapers aren't facemasks: We still need PPE

Easter Sunday, 11 years ago, I was in a bad car accident on Highway 93 in the Swan Valley. True story: A pastor’s son was running late to his family’s Easter celebration. He was passing my truck on the left. Unfortunately, I was turning left at the time.

I wasn’t injured, but I had to find help for the others. I ran four miles up the road to get to the nearest cell service.

This isn’t an unusual story for Montanans. We live in rough terrain, and we’re used to taking care of each other.

This year, I spent Easter packing Fed-Ex boxes full of N95 respirator masks for first responders and health organizations on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic across Montana.

I’m a Montana state legislator who is running for Congress: Wrangling masks for frontline workers is not in my job description, but that’s how I’m now spending my time (and some of my campaign funds).

I delivered a box of masks to a critical access hospital a few days ago. The nurse greeting me wore a diaper around her nose and mouth. Americans spend more money on health care than any nation on Earth. And our nurses are wearing diapers as face masks.

This isn’t a new story: It’s the logical outcome of a system that prioritizes corporate profits over health care for working people. The situation is particularly grave for our decades-long neglected rural hospitals and IHS facilities. I saw it firsthand during my time as a volunteer EMT and a healthcare small business owner.

Make no mistake: Montanans are dying because our politicians value stock prices over the well-being of working people. Take a look at our current congressman. In the midst of a global pandemic Rep. Greg Gianforte bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in companies benefitting from the pandemic. The corruption is blatant. But we can make change. I’ve seen it happen.

I got into politics because my state representative wanted to kick thousands of Montanans off of their health care. He called them “freeloaders.” So, I ran against him. Our campaign knocked on 22,000 doors in a district with 4,000 porches, talking to everyone we could. I literally took their concerns from their doorsteps with me to the legislature. Since I was elected I’ve authored 24 pieces of legislation, all informed by my community and my neighbors.

Since word has spread that I’m purchasing PPE, I’ve received phone calls from first responders, nurses, coroners and sheriff’s offices, all searching for masks. For all the messages I receive expressing need, I get a similar amount from Montanans who want to help.

My friend LeeAnne has raised more than $10,000 to purchase PPE for our healt hcare professionals — all this during the third trimester of her pregnancy. A local group of high school teachers are 3-D printing face shields. Employees from Simms are now producing medical gowns.

Our problem is not with our people, it’s with our government. Rep. Gianforte represents the absolute worst of us. Montanans like LeeAnne represent the best of us.

What I love about Montana is the sense that we’re all building this place together, that we’re each part of a legacy that dates back centuries. There’s a profound freedom here: Each of us can make what we want of ourselves.

And we can make what we want of our government. I know we can build a better Montana, it begins by sending new people to Congress. That’s why I humbly ask for your vote in Montana’s June 2 primary.

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State Rep. Tom Winter, D-Missoula, is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives.