HELENA — It’s been five years since the COVID-19 pandemic, but like many healthcare organizations, Shodair Children’s Hospital says they’re still feeling the impacts.

Now, they’re receiving more than $2 million in federal funding to help them move forward.

“I mean, we had to really operate on a very shoestring budget while everyone was dealing with COVID, so these monies would have been helpful three years ago, but we are going to take them now and continue doing what we always do,” said Craig Aasved, the CEO of Shodair.

The pandemic disrupted Shodair’s bed availability and staffing. Aasved says they worked hard to avoid laying off employees, including having their administration take temporary pay cuts.

In 2023, Shodair applied for employee retention credits through the IRS, intended

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