Current News

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine For the week ending October 19, 2024, the Vermont Department of Health reported that the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations fell while fatalities remained relatively high. Vermont cases are now under 200 and lower than they were a year ago. Hospitalizations also saw a drop in admissions. Hospitalizations and general "syndromic" cases decreased to just under 10 cases. The VDH reported 7 COVID-related fatalities, even as COVID deaths are higher this fall than last so far. The number of COVID cases fell last week to 149. Cases had been falling in April and May and were as low as 31 at the beginning of May. Along with the case numbers, wastewater monitoring also has shown a decrease in levels of virus. The pandemic death total stands at 1,222 as of October 19, 2024.

Green Mountain Care Board “The Oliver Wyman report does not mandate any changes at any Vermont hospital. Rather, it provides a projection of Vermont’s financial headwinds and provides options for local communities and hospital leaders to consider,” said Owen Foster, Chair of the Green Mountain Care Board.  “Vermont has gaps in care to essential services, including long term care and home health and hospice, mental health care, and primary care, that the Oliver Wyman report identifies and provides options for addressing.  While some of the options are significant, it is important to note that Vermont faces unique challenges due to our demographic trends and we have an opportunity to build an affordable and sustainable healthcare system that meets the needs of our aging population.”

by VAHHS President and CEO Michael Del Trecco “Our hospitals have a history of collaboration with state partners on health care policies that focus on equity and improve care quality. Our commitment to this work is as strong as ever. We know we must transform to reduce health care costs, protect services and ensure all Vermonters have access to care, even in our most rural regions. To get there, we must make sound decisions based on accurate, transparent data. Unfortunately, the Green Mountain Care Board’s (GMCB) Act 167 report consists of significant flaws and should not be used as the basis for health care transformation. A review of the final report released in September reveals significant errors and inaccuracies in the foundational data used to justify sweeping recommendations about our health care system. In addition to already reported errors at North Country Hospital and Gifford Health Care, we now know that flawed data impacts virtually every hospital. This includes grossly inaccurate numbers of emergency department visits and inpatient visits on average off by as much as 33 and 41 percent respectively.

Vermont Business Magazine This year, more than $4.3 million in grant funding is available through the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) for all eligible activities as described in the Vermont Transportation Alternatives Fall 2024 Application Guide via the link below. Approximately 50% of TAP grant program funds are reserved for pollution mitigation projects related to stormwater and highways, including eligible salt and sand shed projects. Also, approximately $1.5 million in grant funding is available through the Municipal Highway and Stormwater Mitigation Program (MHSMP) for eligible stormwater pollution mitigation projects as described in the Municipal Highway and Stormwater Mitigation Program Guide via the link below. 

Vermont Business Magazine Gifford Health Care said in a statement Monday that it is committed to partnering with state officials to achieve health care transformation based on accurate and comprehensive data. “Gifford will continue to collaborate with our local and state partners to improve our health care system to ensure we’re here to serve Vermonters for generations to come,” said Gifford President and CEO Michael Costa. “For this work to succeed, it must be built on mutual trust, yet Gifford’s review of the recent Oliver Wyman report has raised serious concerns about the accuracy and future value of this data.”

Vermont Business Magazine "Statistics show many people have a diagnosis of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, but do not know that they have it,” said Claudia Courcelle, RN, BSN, MSA, CCM, Community Health’s Director of Care Management. “Discussing the importance of awareness is our goal.” Each year in November, Community Health joins other healthcare organizations and the American Diabetes Association to observe American Diabetes Month, a time to rally against the diabetes epidemic and to empower individuals, families and communities with knowledge about diabetes.

Vermont Business Magazine A Saint Michael’s College student is shining light on the lived experiences of people with disabilities – including her own – through her original play, “A Taste of Freedom,” and an accompanying panel discussion. Sadie Chamberlain ’25, a double major in Theatre and Psychology from Lyndonville, Vermont, wrote and will star in her play, the College’s fall Mainstage production. The play doubles as her senior capstone project. The play will run from Nov. 6 until Nov. 9 and will begin at 7 p.m. each night in the McCarthy Arts Center Theatre. The performances are free and open to the public. Chamberlain’s play marks only the second instance since the Fine Arts Department began in the 1960s that a student-written play has been chosen as one of the faculty-directed and designed Mainstage theatre productions.  

by Tom Frank & Shawn Tester For North County Hospital (NCH) in Newport (Orleans County) and Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) in St. Johnsbury (Caledonia County), collaboration and team work to protect local access to services, keep costs down and provide great care to our neighbors in the Northeast Kingdom is essential to serve the vast region we cover. The region also includes Essex County in the furthest northeast corner of our state, as well as portions of Franklin, Lamoille and Orange Counties. We are indeed the most rural region in our already very rural state. Together, our two small critical access hospitals, our partner home health agency and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Northern Counties Health Care are responsible for covering some 2,000 square miles or 20% of the entire state’s land. We serve 55 municipalities and gores of the state’s total 256 municipalities and gores. 

Vermont Business Magazine Eilish Quirion, RN, has been honored with the first DAISY Award at North Country Hospital.  She has worked here for eight years, and is a Charge Nurse in the Emergency Department. Nurses throughout the organization were nominated for this first round and12 DAISY nominations were received CNO, Denise Carter, RN, added this national nurse recognition program earlier this year.

Vermont Business Magazine At the site of a former Saint Michael's College dormitory converted into affordable apartments, housing leaders and local officials released the annual Building Homes Together campaign scorecard documenting the number of homes and apartments created throughout Chittenden County in 2023. The data showed continued housing production shortages – especially those which are affordable – as vacancy rates hover around 1%. In 2023, 720 new homes and apartments were constructed, with 125 of them permanently affordable. Both fall far short of the respective 1,000 and 250 unit targets. With more than one-third of the jobs in the state in the county, the lack of housing in Chittenden County threatens Vermont’s economic health. Employers are finding it increasingly challenging to attract and retain employees due to the lack of housing availability, and an estimated 33,500 workers commute to Chittenden County jobs from other regions.

Vermont State Police The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, completed autopsies on the two individuals whose bodies were found Friday at a home in Newfane. They are identified as Blake Prescott, 91, and Helen Prescott, 88, a married couple who lived in the home on South Wardsboro Road where this incident occurred. The medical examiner determined that Helen Prescott’s cause of death was gunshot wounds to the torso, and the manner of death is a homicide. The cause of Blake Prescott’s death was a gunshot wound to the chest, and the manner of death is a suicide. The Prescott family asked the Vermont State Police to tell the public that Blake and Helen shared a lifetime of love and commitment to each other. “As a devoted couple of more than 70 years, who had recently experienced precipitously declining health, they chose to die together as they’d lived together,” the family said in a statement provided to the state police."

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney’s Office announced that Jennifer LaBonte, 45, of Essex Junction, Vermont pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Rutland to a charge of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Mary K. Lanthier released LaBonte on conditions pending sentencing, which is scheduled for March 4, 2025. On October 2, 2024, the United States Attorney filed an information charging LaBonte with a single count of wire fraud. That is the charge to which she pleaded guilty. According to the information, between 2001 and January 2024, LaBonte was employed by automobile dealerships located in Burlington. From about 2012 until her termination, LaBonte served as office manager for the dealerships, a position that gave her oversight over all accounting matters. LaBonte had check-signing authority. The total loss resulting from her embezzlement is about $191,000. In court, the parties announced that LaBonte has provided the dealerships with a check that repaid them in full for the stolen funds.