Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Renovations will begin this month to create a new Women’s Health Center at Gifford with a grand opening slated for September. The center will house Gifford’s OB-GYN and Midwifery services and providers in an improved location directly adjacent to Gifford’s renowned Birthing Center. Once housed within the medical center, OB-GYN team members and patients will be closer to other Gifford services and providers, easing patient access and improving upon continuity of care. The center will be 5,700 square feet – 1,240 square feet larger than the current OB-GYN and Midwifery space – and include a new designated Procedure Room, Ultrasound Room, Phlebotomy Room and Lab in addition to provider offices and midwife on-call space.

Vermont Business Magazine Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) Lead Respiratory Therapist Heather Nelson presented at the NVRH Auxiliary’s bi-monthly meeting on January, 10, 2020. Nelson discussed the NVRH Respiratory Department’s Green Initiative, an initiative that educates respiratory therapists and provides patients with color-coded thermometers as a way to stay on top of their COPD and asthma.

Color-coded thermometer notifies patients of their current breathing status. This one indicates "green" which is good.

by US Attorney Christina E Nolan, et al In 2017, almost 50,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. It’s a sad reality that New England as a whole has been particularly hard hit by opioids. In fact, per capita, of the 12 states across the country with the most opioid overdose fatalities, all six of our states make the list. Much of that is due to illicitly produced fentanyl. To maintain and build upon a recent decline in opioid overdose deaths nationwide, law enforceme [Anchor] nt must have all the necessary tools at their disposal. One such tool is the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) 2018 order making all fentanyl-related drugs illegal in the United States. Unfortunately, that order was temporary and will expire in just a few weeks.

Vermont Business Magazine The Northeast Kingdom Young Professionals Network (NEK YPN) recently received a $3000 grant from the Vermont Community Foundation's Northeast Kingdom Fund. The grant will help further NEK YPN’s mission of supporting young professionals both socially and professionally by expanding outreach efforts and promoting a new Welcome Wagon Program.

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine Kingsbury Companies, LLC, a Middlesex construction firm founded in 2005, saw a big leap in revenues in 2019, as good fortune pushed gross income from 2018's $18.3 million to an estimated $32.0 million, measured on a calendar-year basis. By way of explanation, CEO Travis Kingsbury points to "a couple of larger projects that we landed," and to the acquisition of Johnson's D Tatro Construction. The diversified enterprise has seen revenues grow 106% since 2014.

Vermont Business Magazine Marathon Health LLC is a Winooski workplace health and wellness services for midsize and large employers: primary care, coaching, and disease management. The Vermont 100+ with full stories, industry rankings and growth charts can be found in the January 2020 issue of Vermont Business Magazine.

Vermont Business Magazine For The Biome, the Vermont-based wellness and skincare company launched last year by Paul and Barbi Schulick, has announced a partnership with the JHCapital family office of Jim Crook and Allison Maino. With over 35 years of leadership experience and a strong track record of growing companies in Vermont and beyond, Crook is the former CEO of IDX Systems Corporation and plays lead governance roles in Aspenti Health, DealerPolicy, RCxRules, MediRevv and Greensea Systems, among others.

The Schulicks are the acclaimed natural products industry leaders who originally founded the iconic New Chapter supplement company in 1982, which was acquired by Procter & Gamble seven years ago. They left P&G last year to launch their latest venture, For The Biome, which they are positioning to impact the wellness/skincare space in the same way that New Chapter led the natural products industry.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to its growing medical device business, advanced contract manufacturing and injection molding company GW Plastics, Inc. has completed the latest expansion of its Royalton, Vermont Manufacturing and Technology Center. GW Plastics has added a 30,000 ft² expansion to accommodate the growth of its thermoplastic injection molding and medical device contract assembly business.

by Representative Pattie McCoy, R-Poultney, House Minority Leader As readers may know, legislators recently finalized a mandatory Paid Family and Medical Leave bill (financed by a new payroll tax) that has been a year in the making. This effort has not been without contention; in fact, last May legislative leaders were unable to come to terms on what the final bill would look like, kicking the fight to this year. Vermont Legislative Republicans have been unified against this bill because we believe it makes our state less affordable--not more--and that the structure of this particular bill is fatally flawed.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) today announced the formation of VPIRG Votes – a nonpartisan political action committee focused on electing public interest champions to Vermont state offices. In a video message shared with VPIRG’s 50,000 supporters and posted at www.vpirgvotes.org, Board President Ashley Orgain explained the reason for the organization’s entry into the electoral arena. “We face an unprecedented climate crisis,” she said. “To protect our economy, our environment and future generations we have to make changes.”

Leonine Public Affairs The campaign announcements kept on rolling in week two of the 2020 legislative session. Senator Debbie Ingram, D-Chittenden, formally announced her campaign for lieutenant governor, joining Senate president Tim Ashe, D-Chittenden, in the primary race. The announcement means two of the six Senate seats from Chittenden County will be vacant. Representative Dylan Giambatista, D-Essex, a deputy leader in the House announced his candidacy for the Senate as did former Burlington Democratic representative Kesha Ram. Two vacant seats in the Chittenden County Senate District creates the possibility for a somewhat crowded field with the likely addition of Progressive and Republican Party candidates down the line.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan on Friday joined a coalition of 14 attorneys general to halt federal immigration arrests of noncitizens without a judicial warrant or court order in and around state courthouses. In an amicus brief filed in State of Washington v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; et al., the coalition argues in support of Washington State's request for a preliminary injunction to immediately halt such arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The case is pending in US District Court for the Western District of Washington.