Current News

by John R. Brumsted, MD President and CEO, University of Vermont Health Network Last week, the UVM Health Network experienced a confirmed cyberattack that has affected some of our systems. We expect that it will take time to restore normal operations throughout the network. But our top priority is caring for our patients and we have well-practiced standby procedures in place to ensure that we are providing that care safely. Our urgent and emergency care locations are open and we encourage you to seek the care you need.

Vermont Business Magazine Today Commissioner Michael S Pieciak announced the filing of a federal lawsuit against Jasbir Thandi, the former president of Global Hawk Risk Retention Group. The lawsuit also involves several of Global Hawk’s outside professional advisors including its former financial advisor and insurance broker. Global Hawk is a Vermont captive insurance company providing insurance coverage to its members who are commercial trucking companies all located outside Vermont. The lawsuit alleges the defendants falsified bank documents to conceal the financial condition of the company from the Department of Financial Regulation. This scheme allowed the defendants to continue operating the insolvent company for their own benefit and at substantial risk to its members.

Vermont Business Magazine The Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) Foundation has received a $2 million gift from friends of the hospital for the expansion and renovation of the emergency department and front entrance of the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) in Bennington. The gift is dedicated to support VISION 2020, the health system’s strategic direction. The initiative outlines transformational projects for SVMC’s main entrance, Emergency Department, and Cancer Center over the next few years. Construction is planned to start in the spring of 2021, pending regulatory approval.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is reminding customers that today’s storm is bringing strong gusty winds along with sleet and snow across Vermont, increasing the possibility for outages due to downed trees and lines. GMP is also urging customers to stay away from any downed lines or trees – and to call GMP.

​Vermont Business Magazine Unsworth Properties, LLC and their select investors have closed on the acquisition of over 277,000 square feet of industrial/manufacturing real estate from REM Development. The $28.6 million transaction was a nearly year-long process that culminated in a closing on October 30, 2020. REM Development Company, represented by Brad Worthen of Pomerleau Real Estate, began their process of identifying a purchaser in November of 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Department of Labor have announced the availability of a new $1,000 scholarship for eligible Vermonters to support training and other expenses incurred from enrollment in an adult career and technical education certificate program. The Adult Career Technical Education (CTE) Scholarship was created in partnership between the Department of Labor and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington-based Reconciled has acquired Bean Team, a Tallahassee-based accounting firm. Reconciled, the online bookkeeping firm for entrepreneurs continues to expand nationally with a platform strategy starting with Bean Team. Financial terms were not disclosed. Bean Team’s customers will continue with the same support and service that has made Bean Team a success, but with the added value of Reconciled’s accounting team and resources.

WHEN: Now, 11/2/20

WHERE: VT-108, “Smugglers Notch”

WHAT: CLOSED

Scenic VT 108 “The Notch” is CLOSED at this time due to snow. Crews are closing the gates on either side of the mountain and Digital Message Signs are being edited to indicate the closure.

As always, VTrans will monitor the weather and road conditions in the days to come and will re-open “The Notch” if road conditions improve. An update will be provided if the roadway re-opens before closing for the winter season.

University of Vermont Health Network The University of Vermont Medical Center is experiencing outages across a number of systems. Impact on patients is as follows: Our urgent and emergency care locations are open and we encourage you to seek the care you need; Some services and procedures may have been impacted and you will be contacted if your appointment or procedure needs to be postponed. Call your provider's office if you have concerns about an upcoming appointment; If you have a scheduled appointment, please bring your complete list of medications. You may be asked about your medical history; If you need to schedule a non-urgent appointment or contact us about a non-urgent matter, we ask that you wait until this situation is resolved.

Vermont Research News More than half of Vermonters have voted -- above 240,000 votes -- according to the Community News Service Vote tracker map based on data from the Office of Secretary of State. The town by town map shows Shelburne, Norwich, Calais, Plainfield with the highest vote by mail numbers and Searsburg, Panton, Plymouth and Pownal as towns where voters prefer to vote in person.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont based Green Lantern Solar recently completed construction of a 150 kW AC solar array in Stamford, Vermont, providing Healthy Living Market & Café with significant savings annually in net metering credits. Sixty-six towns across Vermont now host Green Lantern arrays adding nearly 40 megawatts(MW) of in-state, renewable power to Vermont’s grid.

The University of Vermont Health Network is continuing to make progress on responding to the cyberattack event this week. Our IT team is on site and working through the weekend on this effort. Our staff continues to utilize standby procedures and offer high-quality care to our patients across the Network. Some patient's appointments at UVM Medical Center may be impacted over the next several days and we encourage patients to verify their appointments with providers. We will continue to provide systems and patient service updates when they are available. The UVM Medical Center in Burlington has been the most impacted. Most but not all services are available, some procedures have been rescheduled and currently there is no access to the MyChart patient portal.