Current News

The UVM Board of Trustees welcomed five new members this month: three legislative trustees, an undergraduate political science major and a gubernatorial appointee. Together, their backgrounds span the fields of federal politics, the culinary arts, accounting, electrical contracting and environmental consulting.

The new legislative trustees, elected by the Vermont General Assembly to six-year terms, are Bernard Juskiewicz, Curt McCormack and Tristan Toleno. They succeed Carolyn Branagan, Christopher Bray and David Potter, while Ed Pagano, who was appointed to a six-year term by Governor Peter Shumlin, succeeds Mark Young. New student trustee David Brandt, selected by the Associated Directors for the Appointment of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College Student Trustees, Inc, succeeds Raj Thakrar and will serve a two-year term.

A new brochure from the J Warren & Lois McClure Foundation identifies the top high-pay, high-growth jobs projected for Vermont over the next 10 years — and the educational requirements needed to obtain them. For current and future jobseekers willing to invest in training and/or education after high school, it is clear: there are promising employment opportunities in Vermont.

The McClure Foundation, a supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation, partnered with the Vermont Department of Labor to identify the top 67 jobs. Each is expected to have at least 150 openings over the next decade and pay above the average Vermont hourly wage of $21.18. The list is at www.mcclurevt.org/pathways along with detailed information about each promising job, including average wages and which degrees and majors will put students on the right path.

Ello, the ad-free social network based in Burlington, Vermont, has named March "NSFW Month." Throughout the month, Ello will celebrate freedom of speech by highlighting the suppressive role that censorship plays in social media, government, and the arts. Those who believe in a censorship-free internet are invited to sign-up for Ello at https://ello.co/freedom-of-speech. They will receive an immediate invitation to join Ello, with a call to post content that symbolizes a stand against censorship on the Internet. Throughout the month Ello will highlight and promote posts by Ello users that represent the current fight for digital freedom of speech.

by Tom Brown vtdigger.org For the first time in Governor Peter Shumlin’s tenure, more Vermonters disapprove of his job performance than approve of it. A new VTDigger/Castleton Polling Institute survey shows that 47 percent of those surveyed disapprove of the job Shumlin, a Democrat, is doing as governor and 41 percent approve. The poll of 700 Vermonters was conducted February 9-24 (see methodology below).

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) have introduced legislation to dramatically improve access to dental care. The Comprehensive Dental Reform Act would expand dental coverage through Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and the Department of Veterans Affairs, filling the gap for the more than 1 in 4 Americans who lack dental insurance.

The bill (SEE SUMMARY BELOW) was filed in the Senate and House on today’s 8th anniversary of the death of Deamonte Driver, a Maryland youth who died when a simple abscessed tooth caused an infection that spread to his brain.

“We have a dental crisis in America. Tens of millions of Americans cannot afford to see a dentist or live in parts of the country where there are no dentists. Because untreated dental problems can have serious health consequences, we must ensure that people have access to care before it’s too late,” Sanders said.

Online Masters in Public Health has released the 50 Most Beautiful Medical Schools, including the University of Vermont in Burlington, the state's only medical school, which ranked 11th. The list features medical schools with amazing architecture, structural prowess, campus integration, and technological superiority, among many other factors that were considered. After evaluating hundreds of medical schools around the country, the online educator narrowed its list down to these 50. The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, NH, ranked 13. Duke University was ranked number 1.

See alphabetical list below. The ranking can be viewed here: http://www.onlinemastersinpublichealth.com/beautiful-medical-schools

Two members of the University of Vermont Health Network, Central Vermont Medical Center and the University of Vermont Medical Center recently kicked off an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Collaborative at UVM Health Network – CVMC. Phil Brown, DO, UVM Health Network –CVMC chief medical officer and Gilman Allen, MD, medical director, adult critical care at the University of Vermont Medical Center made the announcement in early February.

“ICU care is a team effort including hospitalist physicians, nurses, nutritionists, respiratory therapists and physical therapists,” noted Dr. Allen. “Our goal is to provide intensivist support for hospitalists taking care of ICU patients here at CVMC,” said Dr. Allen. “This will be a collaborative process that will seek to provide more uniform care that conforms with national standards but also is properly matched to local resource capacities.”

University of Vermont (UVM) cardiologist and heart rhythm specialist Peter Spector, M.D., is on a mission to improve the cure rate for a form of the most common heart rhythm disorder – atrial fibrillation (AF) – and has already earned a patent as he works towards this goal.

Roughly six to eight million cases of AF exist in the U.S., but despite its prevalence, medications only work in about 45 percent of patients. An alternative to medication exists; a procedure – called catheter ablation – is effective in about 75 percent of patients with intermittent (paroxysmal) AF, but the technique works poorly in the majority of AF patients, who suffer from a chronic form of the condition called persistent AF.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, the Brattleboro Retreat, and Grace Cottage Hospital are launching a new community health needs assessment (CHNA) to engage the communities they serve and learn more about the most pressing health care concerns and needs. Based on the data that the hospitals gather, each hospital will develop an implementation strategy to address prioritized health care needs. This CHNA is also an opportunity for hospitals to maintain compliance with federal regulations.

The three health care organizations are working collaboratively to gather information by conducting focus groups, developing and disseminating a short survey to the general public, and collecting and analyzing quantitative data. The Vermont Department of Health is providing population based indicators as part of the process.

March 1-7 is National Consumer Protection Week. Use this week as a reminder to stay informed about current issues facing consumers and to share your knowledge with friends, family, and neighbors. Protect yourself from scams. Here is the list of the Top 10 Scams of 2014, as reported to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office Consumer Assistance Program:

TOP 10 SCAMS OF 2014 and TIPS FOR PREVENTION

1. IRS Debt Collection: A scam telephone call saying you owe “back taxes” or outstanding payments due to the government, typically from callers claiming to be “Internal Revenue Service”, “IRS”, and “US Treasury and Legal Affairs.” Don’t respond to these callers. If you think you may actually owe back taxes, hang up and contact the IRS directly at 1 (800) 829-1040.

New Competitive Option Offers Secure, Scalable Bandwidth for Cloud Computing, Mobility, Online Backup and More to Businesses Along the Connecticut River

Comcast Business today announced that its full portfolio of multi-gigabit Ethernet servicesis now available across three communities in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, and Windsor County, Vermont. Capable of up to 10 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) of throughput, these services are specifically designed for businesses, hospitals, schools and other organizations requiring more capacity, looking to network multiple locations together, or planning to connect their offices to a third-party data center.

Blake Hill Preserves, specialist producer of chutneys, conserves, marmalades and preserves in Vermont is excited to announce its “Orange, Lime & Ginger” marmalade and “Seville Orange” marmalade have both won GOLD from over 2,000 entries at The World’s Original Marmalade Awards held at Dalemain Mansion, England. In 2014 Blake Hill became the 1st US producer to win Gold at the Awards, and to win another two Gold Medals in 2015 is a remarkable achievement for this young company.