Current News

by Chris Graff This is not a column about Grace Potter. It easily could be. She is a star on the national stage who never loses sight of her Vermont roots and her Vermont neighbors. She is amazingly generous and has lent her voice and her star power to help Vermont and Vermont organizations.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Many Vermont opiate addicts say their habit started with a legitimate prescription from a doctor. Others first bought pills stolen from someone else’s medicine cabinet. As Vermont combats opiate addiction, the state board that oversees doctors has issued a new policy on how to prescribe opioid painkillers, such as oxycodone.

The Vermont Board of Medical Practice in April adopted a new set of guidelines for physicians prescribing the highly addictive and easy-to-abuse drugs to people who suffer from long-term pain.

The Vermont Supreme Court has affirmed the Agency of Natural Resources’ issuance of an operational-phase stormwater permit for the wind development in Lowell. “The Court made clear that it will not second-guess the Agency’s expertise in highly technical areas like stormwater management,” said Attorney General William H. Sorrell. “The Court affirmed that the Agency may use its expertise to approve innovative approaches to manage stormwater that fully protect Vermont’s waters,” he added.

The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees will have a new Chair for the first time in eight years. At its Thursday meeting held at Castleton State College, the VSC Board elected Martha O’Connor of Brattleboro to take the gavel from outgoing Chair Gary Moore of Bradford.

O’Connor is serving in her third six-year term on the VSC Board. She was first appointed by Governor Howard Dean in 1999 and subsequently reappointed by Governor Jim Douglas in 2005 and Governor Peter Shumlin in 2011. She has chaired the Board’s Finance and Facilities Committee since 2006. O’Connor has a rich record of public service in Vermont.

“Central Vermont Medical Center patients and employees have been asking for CVMC to open an urgent care center for many years,” stated CVMC President and CEO Judy Tartaglia. “The need for Express Care in Central Vermont was identified in 2009 and has been in our Strategic Plan ever since. Our community needs a lower cost, high quality and easily accessible alternative to an expensive Emergency Department.”

Express Care is designed for adults and children with minor illnesses or injuries. No appointment is needed and all insurances will be accepted. All Vermonters and visitors to Vermont will be welcome. On-site Lab and x-ray are available.

The clinic will be staffed with many of the same providers the community currently knows and respects.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Some low-income Vermonters will still be forced to repay the federal government for state errors with the food stamp program, after a bill asking the state to pick up that tab failed this session. The problem dates back to last year, when the feds sanctioned Vermont for miscalculating the amount of money it awarded to food stamp recipients, in many cases giving people too much.

The federal government, which pays for food stamps, fined the state $500,000 and asked those Vermonters who were victims of the errors to pay back the extra.

Some lawmakers, however, felt those low-income residents should not be asked to pay for an error that was not their fault.

US Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders has announced that he will introduce legislation to increase accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs and reintroduce comprehensive legislation – which Senate Republicans blocked last winter – to improve veterans’ health care, education, job-training and other benefits.

Sanders (I-Vermont) is working with the White House on a VA accountability bill that will be filed as soon as Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess. The chairman also announced that a hearing will be held on June 5 to address that bill and other legislation.

When 12-year-old Marisa “Missy” Magel passed away suddenly while at summer camp in rural Texas, it was from a disease her family never knew she had—brain aneurysm disease. The disease claims 32,000 lives annually in the United States—more than prostate cancer—partly because brain aneurysms are often misdiagnosed as migraine headaches.

Now a $150,000 grant to the Center for Telehealth at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) from the Missy Project, a foundation her family started in 1999 following Missy’s death, will help brain aneurysm patients in northern New England have rapid access to neurovascular specialists; access that may have helped save Missy’s life.

John McClaughry From 1906 to 1951 the Springfield municipal gas plant converted coal to gas and piped it to homes throughout the village. In that latter year liquid propane became a much better option, so grinding and heating coal was discontinued. Left behind was a bunch of contaminated structures, pipes and buried barrels of coal tar mixed with various environmentally nasty byproducts.

The old gas plant site was, however, right on Clinton Avenue, the main road into the village. The town government was eager to get the old plant demolished and the site returned to the tax rolls for some better (and cleaner) use. In 1997 Vermont-owned Bradford Oil Co. bought the eyesore of a site to build a modern gasoline plaza and convenience store. The Springfield Regional Development Corporation (SRDC) rejoiced.

CVAA will celebrate its 40th Anniversary on May 29, 2014, at the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center in South Burlington. This dinner will also mark a milestone in its nutrition program, having served 9 million meals to seniors in the Champlain Valley. CVAA provides services and supports to enable seniors to remain in the setting of their choice for as long as safely possible. CVAA gives seniors a voice to be able to live the life they choose. Each year over 230,000 Meals on Wheels are delivered to seniors in the Champlain Valley.

This dinner will honor John Barbour and Amy Tarrant. Barbour is CVAA’s Executive Director who is retiring from the agency after 34 years of advocating for seniors. Tarrant is a longtime supporter of senior services whose generous support has allowed CVAA to weather federal budget cuts without denying services to any senior.

The Rite Aid Foundation has announced a $5,000 grant to the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (VABVI), which has four offices across Vermont and is the only private agency to offer free training, services and support to visually impaired Vermonters. The funding will provide scholarships to the Intensive Residential Life Experiences Camp, an annual opportunity to engage with and learn from children facing similar visual impairments.

The Rite Aid Foundation previously awarded $5,000 to VABVI in 2010, 2012 and again in 2013.

"The Intensive Residential Life Experiences Camp is three-fold opportunity for campers to improve their health and wellness, learn new skills and build self-confidence – all goals that The Rite Aid Foundation sets out to encourage and nurture," said Gayle Rife, Manager of The Rite Aid Foundation. "We hope that even more visually challenged Vermont children will get a chance to blossom because of this wonderful program."

Vermont ranked 4th senior health this year, according to the second edition of United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings Senior Report. Nationwide, seniors are showing encouraging gains in key health measures and taking more steps to improve their own health. Notable gains for senior health include declines in physical inactivity, improvements in quality of nursing home care, reductions in avoidable hospitalizations, and increased preparation for end-of-life care.

“United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings Senior Report is a valuable tool for measuring and understanding the key challenges and opportunities facing Vermont’s senior population,” said Donald Stangler, M.D., medical director, UnitedHealthcare of New England. “With the senior population expected to double in size in the next 25 years, it is important that we develop effective programs and solutions that address seniors’ health needs in Vermont and nationwide.”