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Nov. 22, 2019 - Work Worth Doing - Doug Burgum

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Excellence in Public Service

Three recipients of the 2019 Governor's Awards for Excellence in Public Service discuss what it means to be part of Team ND and how their work helps the people of North Dakota. Gov. Burgum talks with Dr. Penny Hetletved of the Dept. of Corrections & Rehabilitation, Ryan Kramer of the Information Technology Department and Janelle Middlestead of the Insurance Department. Read more about the award recipients at this link.

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	Welcome to Work Worth Doing.
	I'm Mark Staples.
	If you've listened to this podcast before, you know we love to share the incredible ways in which the people who work for the state of North Dakota help improve the lives of everyone living in our great state.
	In past episodes, we've often talked with agency leaders and team members to profile individual agencies or understand how Team ND is involved with various issues.
	Today, we're doing something a little different.
	We're joined by three members of Team North Dakota who work in completely separate agencies doing very different jobs.
	What our guests today all have in common is that they were each recognized for their outstanding work at the Governor's Awards for Excellence in Public Service earlier this fall.
	We're going to dig into what they do in their roles with the state and find out what helped their nomination stand out among the rest.
	Governor Burgum's first conversation is with Dr. Penny Hedeltwitt, Director of Education, Staff Development and Training, and Core Correctional Practices at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
	She spent 30 years working in education with 15 years in public school and 15 years in corrections with experience as an English teacher, technology teacher, librarian, and administrator.
	Earlier this year, she received the Sondbuster Award for Excellence in Growth Mindset, an award she was nominated for based on her role in increasing and improving educational opportunities for residents within North Dakota's corrections and rehabilitation system, leading the agency to some of the highest GED passage rates in the nation, and integrating a growth mindset into agency policy.
	Here's Governor Burgum and Dr. Penny Hedeltwitt.
	Congratulations on your recent recognition and Governor's Award, but for those listening, there may be a few things that they don't know, which is that we actually have a full high school at the Youth Correctional Center, and you started out teaching there, but I had a chance to tour that last year where the First Lady, Lieutenant Governor, has been there, and it's truly an amazing place, but tell me a little bit about your experiences teaching at YCC. Sure.
	You know, if I had to compare public school to correctional education, both sides were very rewarding.
	On the public side, you have many rewards all at once with the kids more often.
	But when you get that reward with youth at the Youth Correctional Center, it's weighty, right?
	You know that you've changed their path.
	You've changed their journey.
	So you're right.
	The Youth Correctional Center is a fully accredited elementary, middle, and high school.
	Because Century Code does allow a placement as young as 12. And then before their 21st birthday, we're also an adult learning center out there.
	And this year, we are one of the Department of Public Instruction's innovative schools.
	And my sense from touring out there, first of all, it felt like a really fun, engaging school.
	I mean, it felt like a lot of other schools I've been in North Dakota.
	And so it really felt like a great learning environment.
	But of course, the teachers that are there Are so dedicated because they're dealing with a population who, if they're there, has probably had a series of challenges in their life.
	And one of those things that they talk about in your business is ACEs, but maybe explain what that means and what that can bring to a person's development.
	Yes, so, right, that's a great question.
	So we do a lot with risk assessment, and we do a lot within mental health assessments and criminogenic assessments, but the bottom line within our school is that we really strive to make it feel normal because many of the kids that we serve, they might not have always had a successful public school experience, and it's not for the public school alone, just all the other entities in life.
	And so we really strive that our faculty are embracing where they're at to get them where they are and so I think some of what they don't maybe understand is the length of stay for a student is seldom even close to a semester and so and our teachers can have a new student every week on their roster right with a class and so there's a lot of flexibility that has to go with that but the The bottom line is that every day they get a new clean slate from the day before because they're learning what they
	do there.
	And the same goes true for our education system on the adult side as well because education is mandatory programming if they don't have their diploma.
	So we really strive to be that safe teacher and build the rapport to make it be a safe learning environment.
	And so, you know, talk a little bit about the importance of education, early education, elementary education, the ability to read, and how the read-write program fits into what you're doing, and the populations that we're dealing with, you know, where are they at relative to basic educational, and what kind of services are we providing?
	Yeah, so the ReadWrite program itself, beyond fixing their symptoms within reading and building them as a global reader, really both a 12-year-old and my oldest student ever has been 82 in my tenure in education, right?
	Is that they learn to read and love to read more.
	And so then it's that whole, they learn to lose themselves in learning in other ways that are directly driven to their own piece.
	I'm really excited.
	Currently, we're entering into a research project with a collective set of states, other correctional set of states, and we're going to do dyslexic screenings as well, because I feel like ReadWrite does fix the reader that comes into education and doesn't have their diploma, but we have a lot of folks that manage to get across that finish line that find themselves incarcerated too, and I want to be able to identify them on intake.
	So that we can offer them some coping skills while they're inside so they get maximum benefit to their chemical treatment and all of the different programmings that they have in requirement to be ready to go back into the community.
	And of course, libraries are changing these days in terms of, you know, from physical to electronic and how they're managing, but that creates some internet access, creates some special challenges in correctional facilities, but talk a little bit from an educational standpoint how we're managing to make sure that we've got great places of learning and support for people and tell us how that fits into this sort of the mandatory requirement of a person's stay as a resident in one of our facilities.
	Right.
	Well, first of all, we have some amazing faculty, right?
	And so that really leads the charge.
	We are very fortunate that we do have connectivity.
	We have lots of parameters in place that make that secure connections.
	But we do have one-to-one devices that are learning devices, and we have All of the security around those so that many of our textbooks actually are now online subscriptions, right?
	And some of the tutorial pieces definitely on the youth side as well.
	So all of those are really important.
	Our libraries are amazing.
	We have some librarians that Are top notch.
	And they do more than just card catalog books, right?
	Because that's not their job anymore.
	They're hosting TED Talks and they're offering enrichment opportunities and book talks within those pieces.
	And there's interlibrary loan, right?
	And we all have folks with failing eyesight and different things like that where we're able to offer audio books and things that just empower their minds.
	And, Penny, you won the Sodbuster Award, which creates a visual of someone breaking new ground, but it's the Sodbuster Award for growth mindset, which we talk about as one of the five cultural aspirations that we have across all of Team ND, and that The growth mindset is that challenges are positive for us and a continuous learning attitude, which is, hey, things that are new and different that challenge me are actually good for me, and I'm capable of learning new things.
	I like challenges.
	I enjoy feedback.
	And from your nominations, it seems you embody all of that, and you've also been empowering your team to also have that growth mindset.
	So let me just offer my congratulations to you for really being a role model in that.
	One of the things which I have seen as we've come to understand the correction system is that there's a high correlation between people who've had a challenge with the disease of addiction and interaction with our criminal justice system.
	But as someone who has a background and done work with people in special ed, and we know that's a big challenge in our public school system these days, Behavioral health and special ed in public schools.
	Tell us a little bit about the population, the percentage of people that may have been challenged with some kind of diagnosed learning disability.
	How does that correlate with the residents that you see and what services are we providing for those people that might have behavioral health or special ed challenges inside our corrections and rehabilitation system?
	Yeah, so on the youth side, our special education population can vary between 30 and 50 percent of all the students we serve at the Youth Correctional Center have an individual education plan, an IEP, so they've been diagnosed with something that's taken them on to the special education piece.
	We have an instructional strategist at all of our sites because all of our learners, adult and youth, have some challenges.
	Some of it's even just the truancy and the lack of stability sometimes that they've grown up with.
	And so in addition to that, we have lots of different accommodations that we seek out for them.
	We want to make it a safe place.
	To go back to the growth mindset piece though, I think one of the biggest empowering factors, no matter what the journey is or what they're trying to overcome, is to begin to build their self-image.
	It's really important that they can have a belief system and so we feel really strongly that we have to believe enough for both them and us for them until they can begin to believe in themselves, right?
	I just finished a monthly blog that I did and I talked a lot about somebody knocks your coffee cup over and you spill your coffee and you ask why and they'll say, well, because he hit me.
	No, you spilled coffee because there was coffee in your cup, right?
	If it was tea or water, you'd spill tea and it's really important to think about what you put in your cup, right?
	Because if it's negativity or if it's self-doubt or it's I need this because of that, then we need to make sure that we're identifying the things that are putting that in your cup so that we put your cup full of Full of gratitude, full of empowerment, full of acceptance and tolerance and resilience and those things so that when it spills, it's spilling over in things that care for you.
	That's a great metaphor.
	When you think about challenges and opportunities that are ahead, what excites you and what's the next thing around the corner that's going to allow you and your team to do your work even more effectively?
	Oh my goodness, we have lots of things we want to get accomplished, right?
	So I think a lot of the challenges are seeing the innovative school come full circle.
	One of the things that we're working on within KnowledgeWorks is Identifying how experiential learning brings that student to the knowledge they need to earn that credit versus sitting in a seat because we're penalizing them for that, for some of the things that happen within their life to get there.
	So I'm really excited about that.
	I'm currently working on some partnerships.
	I feel like Director Birch calls it the important model, right?
	We need more community connections within Within the whole piece, similar to your platform on the stigma of addiction, you know, there's the stigma of corrections as well.
	And so once they've lost their liberty because of the crime that they've committed, but we're really working hard to make them be ready to be the citizen that they want to be as well.
	Before they go out into the community both youth and adult and so that's the part that I'm probably the most excited about and working the hardest with is the community connections to make those partnerships for employment, for readiness, for the resources that they know how to seek.
	And that's so important, the work that you're doing across the whole division, because as Director Birch has said many times, I mean, when you've got some number like 98 or 99 percent of the people in the system in North Dakota come back out again, then the whole system has to be working to create better neighbors, better citizens, not trying to create better, um, prisoners, which is the old model.
	I mean, we want to, we want to have residents who become, who become great citizens and great neighbors on the outside.
	I think those connections are, are so key, uh, on the, you know, the hands-on real world team-based learning, you know, the innovative school approach.
	It's so fun to hear you talk about this because, um, in some ways you are ahead of some of the public schools in North Dakota.
	And I think it's great to see us applying what we know works in education because if it works in public school, it's, you know, those same principles of teaching and learning and engagement are going to work within the correction system and is at a full accredited, you know, elementary through K-12 school.
	And so it's so exciting to see I see you and your team on the front edge of this.
	And some of those hands-on, team-based, real-world learning experiences are what's going to help them integrate when they get out.
	I know you're bringing in new approaches for engagement and stuff that I saw out there in the school with shop and music.
	The garden and art and all the stuff that's already happening out there.
	Really fun to see that was happening at YCC and fun to see the progress you're making.
	As we close out today, other thoughts for listeners in terms of either, you know, shout outs to your team or things you're excited about going forward or challenges, anything that we can be, anything we can do to be more supportive of you and the important work you're doing?
	You know, I think on your last statement on the knowledge works within the Youth Correctional Center, I think sometimes people go, well, why should they have all those things out there?
	But the biggest thing with all of that learning is that might be their first academic success piece is when they're on the mountain bike doing this piece or they're Learning how to do CPR within the health classroom and all of those.
	And it makes them know that there's other things beyond some of the choices in the past that they got there.
	As far as shout-outs, I'm very excited.
	We're working on some wellness plans within our own staff at DOCR. And the 900 and some folks that serve all across the state.
	So I'm hoping that that comes to fruition.
	We have really done a lot of change in our training department to prep our staff in some of these innovations that are going on within the progression of North Dakota Corrections as a whole.
	And so there's just lots of good work.
	And the folks that clock in every day, they're in it to make a better human.
	And I'm really proud to be part of that team.
	Our next guest received the Telegraph Award for Excellence in Technology.
	Ryan Kramer, an Enterprise Architect with the Information Technology Department, was recognized for his role in developing a cloud network framework and a zero-trust security framework to support secure and efficient data storage, as well as his role in the creation of a statewide 100 gigabit network increasing connectivity across the state, and in particular for K-12 students.
	Initiatives that have made our state a local leader.
	Ryan, thanks for joining us today.
	Congratulations again for the Governor's Award for Excellence in Public Service.
	This is the Telegraph Award, and of course this was fun for me to deliver because I think I shared that day that my great-grandmother, Linda Slaughter, was Here in Bismarck and she was invited to send the first telegraph out of Bismarck and so exciting thing but of course that was big news those days it would sped up communication so many things happening in technology today and your official title is Enterprise Architect with the Information Technology Department but for those that are not familiar with IT
	names that's a mouthful tell us what an Enterprise Architect does Really, much like an architect title, I design the infrastructure that we run for our technology.
	As part of that, I design StageNet, which is our network that serves all of our K-12 higher ed political subdivisions, which are city-counties as well as government.
	So all of that infrastructure is underneath my purview, and I get to play with that every day.
	How long have you been with the state of North Dakota?
	I've been with the state since 2005 in various roles.
	And when did StageNet launch in its current form?
	StageNet officially started in 1999 from an act of the legislature.
	We redo StageNet every couple of years to keep it modern and current.
	Our current iteration, where we went to 100GB throughout the state, was actually as of this summer.
	So that allowed us to give 100GB to every entity.
	We have 1GB to all the K-12s, as you're aware.
	So that was a big project for us.
	And it's not only a big project, but I know from talking to other governors, it's a little bit of the envy of the rest of the country because there's few states that have this kind of information architecture that you've helped put together here.
	So congratulations on that.
	Thank you.
	I talk to a lot of my peers and we try to always share advice, but I don't really want to use that as a benchmark.
	I try to keep North Dakota leading the way in this field.
	Yeah, and one of the challenges, of course, that we're facing today when you've got everybody connected, I think we have over 250,000 user endpoints on that system, makes North Dakota about like a Fortune 50, maybe a Fortune 20 company in terms of number of endpoints.
	And maybe just touching that for a second, because I think most people kind of get that if things are all connected physically, like a You know, laptops and desktops and all these different endpoints across all the political subdivisions,
	but talk a little bit about cybersecurity and StageNet in a world where we have, as they call the IoT, the Internet of Things, where you've got disconnected things like a drone that may also be able to be controlled by both a good actor or a bad actor.
	One of the examples we have given previously is that we might have a K-12 student, and Sean Raleigh has talked about this, a K-12 student with a little Lego bot that they're running.
	That Lego bot might be exposed on the internet.
	Now that becomes a target for a nation-state, and people kind of wonder why would a nation-state want to take over a Lego bot.
	Because we are a consolidated infrastructure, that Lego bot might have access to a National Guard system.
	National Guard plays a role in national security defense, especially with our nuclear missile installs.
	So again, we're all very connected and one chink in that armor could be a big problem.
	Lots of new things happening in technology.
	Higher bandwidth, higher speeds.
	The advent from when you started here with the state in 2005 to today, now almost every citizen's got a supercomputer in their pocket that was unaffordable and even beyond imagination 20 or 30 years ago.
	In this environment with so much personal technology, what are the new tools that are emerging that are helping you do your job, and what else do you need?
	What can we do to be supporting you?
	One of the big things as an industry, as well as what we do in our job, is going to be where AI takes us.
	It has the ability to dramatically transform, not just what North Dakota does, but what we do in our industry.
	How we combat threats, we have to be perfect 100% of the time.
	The bad guy has to be perfect one in a million times or even less than that.
	So the only way we can combat that is with automation and AI, and that's really where I'm looking forward to a dramatic shift in what we do today.
	I fully expect within the next five years how we do technology, how we do networking, how we do security will look entirely different.
	We're going to go from controlling the tools to controlling the machines that control the tools.
	And expand a little bit for listeners that may not be familiar with AI, artificial intelligence.
	Tell us a little bit about the impact that might have on how we defend ourselves and what benefits it can bring to the citizens of North Dakota.
	Sure.
	Artificial intelligence really covers two different aspects.
	Machine learning is really looking at our traffic and seeing what is the bad stuff, what is the good stuff, what is not normal, and then alerting from that point of view.
	Artificial intelligence then circles around and says, how can we block this?
	How can we get in front of this and try to prevent it from happening before it becomes a big problem?
	So really recognizing on the machine learning that you've actually got computers watching all this traffic as opposed to individuals because the volume is so great right now that it's really beyond human capability to be managing it.
	Give us a sense of the number of attacks that State of North Dakota is under every day today.
	We've quoted 5.7 million attacks per month, and that was a dated number.
	We're probably well above 8 million per month, and those are just the attacks we know about that are visible enough to show up on the radar.
	There's a lot of smaller attacks where they're lower and slower, where they're careful to not show up.
	So it is easily past 10 million using the total number.
	And when these attacks are coming, again, could be from people that just get up every day and go to work that are working for a nation state like a North Korea or an Iran.
	I mean, it could be, is it also, is it no longer the image of the guy sitting in the basement that's doing it because these are big operations with big funding that are driving basically software attacks?
	We know that North Dakota is a national target on the world stage.
	We have obviously a lot of oil interest.
	We have the only state-owned bank.
	All those become nation-state targets.
	Also because we're somewhat consolidated, other states don't have the advantage of having one unified network, but that also makes us a bigger target too.
	So we definitely are a nation-state target.
	We know that we see the tax cuts.
	And in your toolkit of exciting new defense mechanisms, without revealing any of the secret tricks in your bag, what are things that give you optimism that we're going to be able to, as you say, be perfect every day?
	As you mentioned, there's a lot of noise.
	We are definitely implementing tool sets that filter out that noise.
	Out of the millions of attacks per month, we want to see very, very few alerts and even fewer that made it through.
	So we're using those tool sets today actually to start to filter that and actually get the human response more targeted.
	You know, it's interesting when we're having this casual conversation talking about nation states attacking North Dakota.
	When you look back on history of warfare, it was really the Civil War was the last time that there was a war being fought that affected the states of the United States of America because we're, and of course it's affected individuals and families and people that have served, but for many Americans, war is kind of a Abstract concept because it's been fought on foreign soil.
	But we're in an interesting situation right now where the battles are actually coming right back and on the front line are the states.
	The states, the communities, the school districts.
	I mean, when you think about election security...
	And all the foreign interference that's attempted there.
	We know that's going to be something in 2020 where there's, you know, people are going to be trying to get into voting systems and all of those.
	That's the responsibility of the state.
	And so talk a little bit about how you and your team, when you come to work every day, how important you feel the work is in protecting citizens' data in North Dakota.
	We take security very, very serious.
	We don't ever underestimate what our bad actors are capable of.
	We've seen all types of creative attacks.
	We've seen new things that have never been seen before.
	We run technology that compares us to our peers worldwide, and we see zero-day attacks.
	Just to expound a little bit, zero-day, it is an attack that has never been seen in the wild by anyone before.
	We have numerous zero-days per day.
	That means there are people that are very deeply involved and willing to attack us and burn resources also.
	When I say resources, an attack for many of our attackers is simply a financial proposition.
	They see us as a number, a dollar sign, and what is the cost to attack versus what is the cost that they're investing and hopefully getting back.
	So we try to make that cost far more painful for them.
	Well, terrifying when you think about the fact that we have all the financial data through the tax department.
	We've got educational data through the University of Stavism and K-12.
	We've got criminal data.
	We've got motor vehicle registration and boat registration data.
	We have medical health information through anybody that's involved with Medicaid or Medicare.
	I mean, we, the state of North Dakota, it's not like, we're not like Target and you break in and you get somebody learns your last 10 credit card transactions and you get a new credit card.
	The state of North Dakota's got information.
	And I believe it's both our, you know, both a fiduciary and a legal and a moral responsibility for us to protect citizens' data.
	So that's why it was such an honor for me to award you with this year's Telegraph Award, Ryan.
	And thanks for everything you're doing to keep our citizens' data safe and everything you're doing to keep North Dakota on the front edge of the defense.
	Because this is not a business, as you know, and maybe just closing comments and thoughts from you, but this is not a thing where we can invest five years ago and we're okay.
	This is something that requires constant vigilance and constant updating and constant investment to make sure that we're staying ahead of all the investments the bad actors are making.
	No, definitely.
	Thank you very much for the award.
	It's definitely an honor.
	You bring up a great point about data because if I were a customer going to Target, I can pick if I don't go to Target.
	We owe a responsibility to our citizens because they don't have that choice.
	They have to do business with us.
	So we have an extra level of protection that we have to put on top of all the responsibility we have.
	So again, thank you very much.
	The award is very much an honor for me.
	Thank you, Ryan.
	Finally, we're joined by Janelle Middlestead, Consumer Assistance Division Director for the North Dakota Insurance Department.
	Janelle received the Heritage Award for Citizen Focus for her role as an advocate for consumers, leading efforts to rework existing processes to best serve citizens, and integrating technology to implement the first live chat option on a North Dakota state government website.
	As one nominator put it, she has tackled the problem that many consumers do not know they can go to the department for help.
	With her leadership, we are now reaching more consumers, reaching them in new ways, ways they want to be reached, and opening up new opportunities for not only our agency, but for the rest of our state.
	Well, it's great to have you with us, and I think one of the things that we want to learn more about today is we'll learn more about you and learn more about the role.
	But just to start out, tell us how many years have you worked for the state of North Dakota?
	So I started in 2018, so last fall, and I was promoted to my director position January 1st of this year.
	So we've had quite a bit of challenges that I've faced in the past 10 months, but it's been an increase in production with our consumers, so we're seeing a lot of forward-moving action.
	Yeah, I think one of the things that was really exciting about your nomination is to see that someone who's relatively new to Team ND can come in, bring their experience from the outside, have a big impact in a short period of time.
	And so again, excited to have you join Team ND and excited to have you here.
	Tell me about growing up and what was the path you took to lead you to this spot?
	I am a UND graduate with a criminal justice background.
	I was a law enforcement officer for five years for the state of North Dakota.
	Thank you for your service.
	Thank you so much.
	It was definitely an experience of a lifetime.
	However, when I got married and decided to have children, just law enforcement was Just not quite the right avenue I wanted to go down.
	And I got into the insurance world, and I enjoyed working with consumers, selling insurance, talking about products.
	And the opportunity of the opening with the state, I came on as a SHIC counselor, so with the state health insurance counseling, and then got promoted to director for the Consumer Assistance Division.
	Janelle, North Dakota Department of Insurance, for listeners, maybe talk a little bit about, in general, what does the department do and when should a consumer think about contacting or calling the North Dakota Department of Insurance?
	The North Dakota Insurance Department has several Individuals that are encompassed under our consumer assistance division.
	So we have our property and casualties.
	So if you are in a car accident and have a question on your claim, if you're dealing with an adjuster and aren't understanding or aren't getting a phone call back, we can help be the negotiators between you and the company.
	If you're having questions on your life and health policies, you can call us and we can work through Those concerns that you may have.
	Currently we have our Medicare folks that we're going through our Part D open enrollment that we're reviewing their drug plans and currently only about 15% of our North Dakotans actually review their drug plans.
	Could be detrimental because of not changing their drug plans due to the increasing in plans and the formulary list for their drugs.
	So really, as director of this division, the consumer assistant division is exactly what it says, because the state of North Dakota is not selling insurance, but if an individual has insurance across any one of the categories they might have, if they got a question, they want to talk to a neutral party, they want to talk to someone who can help them sort through how the tricky aspect of insurance, they call you and then you act as an advocate for those consumers.
	Yes, that is correct.
	So we're here for the consumers regardless.
	They can bring in their explanation of benefits and ask us to sort through them and see, explain what their policy is set up and how it's set up and what's a benefit for them that we're a neutral party that we're not here to sell.
	We're trying to help negotiate and to look through to see what's going to be the best for our consumers.
	So, Janelle, in this role in the consumer, assisting consumers, you work for the North Dakota Department of Insurance, and that's led by John Godfried as our insurance commissioner, which is an elected position.
	And I have to say, as a fellow elected leader, that I feel like John's been a real innovator in his role.
	He's been transformative in trying to do new things.
	And one of the things that I'm sure is part of what Your feeling is that you're working for an agency that's supportive of reinventing new approaches in terms of how you think about doing things, whether it's new technology or live chat or new programs or new whatever.
	Tell us a little bit about coming to work for Team ND and what's the environment been like?
	You've gotten a lot done in less than a year.
	Some people feel like, hey, I'm going to work for the government.
	I'm never going to be able to drive any change, but you've been here.
	You're a real example of Commissioner Gottfried allows us to bring our own spin, especially for the Consumer Assistance Division.
	He asked me to think outside the box and said, What can you bring to this team that will bring success and allow a more productive, creative atmosphere?
	And I feel with Commissioner Gottfried allowing us to show up every day and giving us the ability to think and ask questions and to try different processes, regardless if we have to learn that That may not be the right approach, but he lets us lead and gives us the ability and the willingness to work with our teams to create a more opening environment.
	And insurance can be really tricky, and particularly today, so many options, it seems like insurance, some aspect of insurance, whether it's healthcare or some other aspect, in the news every day.
	But tell us a little bit about when you came in, how you brought some order, how you really started driving a focus on really making it easier for consumers and citizens in the state of North Dakota to interact with the Department of Insurance.
	Absolutely.
	Even in this field, you're learning something new every day.
	So for our consumers, when they're being faced with different challenges and problems, we're trying to think outside the box of how can we handle this or how can we answer that question for them.
	So with me coming on, we've tried to make it more consumer-friendly or consumer-focused.
	We can answer those first questions for them so that we can maybe help eliminate and alleviate some of the stress and pressure that they're dealing with, dealing with a property and casualty claim, dealing with a life and health claim, with our Medicare beneficiaries, which we're currently undergoing our open enrollment for the drug plan.
	It's a challenge that is going to continue to grow, and I've just decided that working with our great staff that I have, that we're going to be listening more to our consumers.
	How can we help them?
	What can we improve on?
	How do we change from how we've always done it in the past to forward thinking with more technology-based, so doing more streamlined technology.
	Focus with electronic file transfers and uploading information so we aren't bogged down with paper.
	So we started with our live chat feature for our consumers.
	So on our North Dakota Insurance website, we have a feature that if they are looking for something, they have the ability just to connect with a live body.
	We can answer their question directly and immediately.
	And they're on their way to do the rest that they have to do for the day.
	And live chat, really, if someone's searching on a website, they can click and they can type in a question and connect with someone.
	Is this like texting back and forth?
	When you say a live person, you don't mean a phone call.
	You mean they can just type in a question and a real person will answer that question back.
	Right.
	So it's more of texting back.
	So LiveChat's like a text application embedded inside of your website.
	Correct.
	Yes.
	And Miner's the first agency in North Dakota to do this.
	We are the first.
	But not the first company, because we know that there are tens of thousands of companies that offer LiveChat as a way to interact with their consumers and with their customers.
	And so this is really bringing that citizen focus, that customer focus right here to the insurance department.
	Correct.
	So we are the first for the state, and we've had our hurdles and ups and downs of learning the ins and outs of what's going to work, what isn't, but we went live May of this year, and it's been fantastic.
	We've been able to get the outreach of more consumers than I think we had originally expected, and it's been successful.
	One of the things we talk about on Work Worth Doing is the fact that working for Team ND can be very fulfilling.
	Theodore Roosevelt said, you know, the great prize in life is the opportunity to work hard at Work Worth Doing, and I know you and your team work very hard.
	But tell us a little bit about what makes the work you do Work Worth Doing.
	Working with our consumers every day, hearing the excitement in their voices, hearing the thank yous from the phone calls that we received that we could answer these questions for them, receiving cards, receiving cookies from our consumers on just how thorough we were and how receiving cookies from our consumers on just how thorough we were and how appreciative they were for a quick phone call or just a letter out
	That just it's in working with our consumers face to face or on the phone is the most rewarding part of it all.
	Janelle, thanks for being on Work Worth Doing today and thanks to you and your team and congratulations again for being the 2019 Governor's Award winner for the Heritage Award for Citizen Focus because clearly you and your team are very focused on delivering great service to our citizens and thank you for all you do for the North Dakota Department of Insurance and thanks for your leadership of the Consumer Assistance Division.
	Thank you for having me today.
	If you'd like to get in touch with Janelle's team about an insurance issue, you can learn more at nd.gov slash ndins or call 701-328-2440.
	Thank you to Janelle Middlestead, Ryan Kramer, and Dr. Penny Hedltwitt for joining us today.
	More than 530 nominations were submitted for the 2019 Governor's Awards for Excellence in Public Service.
	We couldn't sit down with all of them here today on the podcast, but I want to take a moment to recognize each of this year's recipients of the Governor's Awards.
	Troy Gilbertson with the Department of Transportation, Jamie Krause from the Department of Public Construction, Ryan Gardner for his work at Parks and Recreation, Laurel Sane with the Department of Human Services, Pamela Helbling Schaefer, Director of the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, And the team behind the K20W initiative for their efforts to develop a cyber education strategy for North Dakotans of all ages.
	If you've had a positive interaction with a member of Team ND, consider taking a moment to recognize them for their hard work.
	Submit your nomination at cose.nd.gov.
	That's all for today's podcast.

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