May 2021 Newsletter

Letter from the President

Shortly after I had started my working career, I found myself living and working in a city on the opposite side of the country from where I had grown up. I knew very few people in Portland, OR, but was proud of the independence I had claimed for myself so quickly after college. I started a job in banking (“just for a couple of years”) and was scraping by, poor but happy.

A few months into my new job, I noticed that I had lump on the side of my neck. Spoiler to the story, it was nothing terrible, but I did not know that at the time. I was then, and still am now, vastly undereducated when it comes to health matters. One night, as I was taking the bus home from work, I thought to myself when I get back to the apartment I will give my mom a call. She was a nurse in charge of teaching other nurses back in Queens, NY where I grew up. She always seemed to know about these sorts of things.

It was only after putting my key in the apartment door that I remembered that my mother had passed about a year and a half prior to that day. My go-to person for all things medical (and so much else) had left me to figure out this situation on my own.

I bring up the story because it reminds of the two sets of people we should be thinking about in May, mothers and nurses. In my case, I was fortunate that I had one in my life who was also the other. She had an odd combination of personality traits – nurturing and gentle as a mom, practical and direct as a nurse. I could not have asked for anything better.

I will let you thank your moms on your own, but as we celebrate Nurse’s Week, I feel the need to say again a big thank you to all the nurses out there, especially those in our membership. And we are lucky to have a lot of them in our membership. I’m guessing that most of us have a great story about an interaction with a nurse – usually at a time when we are not at our best. And these people come into our lives – briefly, but profoundly. So, I’m going to take the liberty of speaking for all the non-nurses reading this, to let these nurses know how much we appreciate them. Thank you for the long, arduous hours. Thank you for getting your education and then supplementing that with experience. Thank you for calling us on our whining and/or showing us great compassion – and thank you for knowing when to do which.

I know this is how I finished the last letter – but it’s worth it to do it again: Thank you nurses.

New Wealthcare Alerts

Over the past six months, you may have heard us talk about our Wealthcare Philosophy. We are excited to announce the latest stage of this initiative: Wealthcare Alerts.

Wealthcare Alerts are a free value add to your membership at the credit union. These alerts are recommended action steps that could improve your overall financial health. Some of them will be minor, maintenance activities (ex: “Consider checking your credit report annually”) to more major ones (ex: “You may be able to increase your interest rate on your savings by 516% by changing to a liquid high yield account”).

These alerts are individualized and built for each member. We will base the recommendations on information we know about your particular situation, in conjunction with what we know about the current economic environment as well as our general knowledge of the financial marketplace as a whole. During this process, we will continue to respect your privacy and take the upmost care with the information you have entrusted us with.

Most alerts will come with a hyperlink you can use to act on the recommendation with the credit union. Of course, we would prefer you followed up on the recommendation by using a Montana Health product, but that is not the purpose of the alerts. These alerts truly are just a function of your membership – a way for us to fulfill our mission to best serve the people who work in healthcare by helping them diagnose and maintain their own financial health. We will try to keep them short – these are meant to be quick actions that can improve, in both big and small ways, the path you are on in your individual financial journey. That being said, we also want to respect your time and will provide an opt-out option if you do not wish to receive these. We hope that you will see that value in giving them a quick read when you get them.

Montana Health is committed to being more than just transactional – we want to be transformative. We want to be so much more than a “bank” – but a trusted guide on your financial journey. We know of no other small financial institution taking steps like these to truly provide this level of value to their customers/members. But, as we like to say – you’re an exceptional person if you work in healthcare, you deserve an exceptional credit union.