Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Bethel resident John Young was working full-time as a blacksmith when someone close to him said he would make a good nurse. He agreed, earned his nursing credentials at age 38, and for 27 years and counting has made a career in health care, first in hospice—“Taking care of people who were dying was very meaningful to me”—and now in palliative care.

by John McClaughry The House-passed heating fuel tax bill (H.439) is now in the Senate Finance Committee, but the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee is busy crafting its own version  (S.171). That version offers the same heating oil and propane tax increases approved by the House, doubling the rates to four cents per gallon. But it goes the House one better (or worse, depending if you’re paying). The House bill raised the gross receipts tax on natural gas by a third, from .75% to 1.0%. The Senate bill would double that rate to 1.5%.

The House bill contained no urgent “findings”. It just raised the tax rates that feed the weatherization program. The Senate bill leads off by declaring grandly that we need to impose more fuel taxes “to help our State meet its greenhouse gas reduction and weatherization goals, thereby addressing climate change.”

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) Center for Connected Care are pleased to announce the launch of specialty care for pregnant women with diabetes. The service is called teleGestationalDiabetes.

Vermont Business Magazine The VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region (VNAHSR) has launched a new podcast, The Homecare Connection, a supplement to the successful public tv access show of the same name. The podcast focuses on empowering people to make a healthier decisions as they age and will provide solutions to individuals who are experiencing the challenges of caring for someone one who may need home health care as they age.

by Eliot Nelson, MD, Professor Emeritus, Pediatrics, University of Vermont, Robert Larner College of Medicine Over the past 28 years as a primary care pediatrician and teacher at UVM’s College of Medicine, and as a member of Vermont’s Child Fatality Review Team, I have learned much about suicide and gun violence. I have seen too often how these public health problems affect too many Vermont individuals and families – in spite of the strong safety commitment of most gun owners.

Vermont’s firearm suicide rate is higher than the nation’s average, and sadly has increased more than 30 percent over the pasts 20 years. I commend our legislature’s current effort to prevent future suicides through legislation that would require a waiting period before firearm purchase.

Vermont Business Magazine Howard Center recently received a 2019 Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness – GOLD Level Award from the Vermont Department of Health and the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.  The award, presented at the Worksite Wellness Conference in Burlington in March, recognizes the agency’s commitment to employee health and wellness.

Howard Center’s health and wellness committee, HC4Me, sponsors various employee incentive programs throughout the year, including an annual health and wellness fair, Zumba and yoga classes, meditation and nutrition workshops, and walk at work campaigns.  HC4Me works in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont’s Accountable Blue Program which supports the creation and implementation of effective wellness programming.

Vermont Business Magazine New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) recently named the three winners of the 2019 NEFCU Nursing Scholarships. Each year, NEFCU’s Nursing Scholarship Program provides three scholarships of $3000 each to qualified applicants.

Vermont Business Magazine The Henry Luce Foundation (New York, NY) has announced that Dr Mariko Silver has been appointed as the foundation’s next president and CEO. Dr Silver will end her tenure as President of Bennington College on July 1, 2019, at which time Dean Isabel Roche will serve as interim president while the college launches a national search with a board-appointed committee.

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine Dr Mariko Silver, the 10th president of Bennington College, works in an office dominated by a stunning abstract expressionist painting by the great artist Helen Frankenthaler. This huge (68”x126.5”) and priceless work of art, titled “Red Square,” was done by the artist — a Bennington College graduate — in 1959.

Acquisition optimizes cost structure, increases manufacturing capacity and positions both companies for future growth

Lamoille Housing Partnership (LHP) was recently awarded a Community Supported Enterprise Grant from the Preservation Trust of Vermont (PTV) to support the ongoing preservation of Bemis Block, a historic Hardwick building owned in partnership between LHP and the affordable housing nonprofit’s development partner, Housing Vermont.

The Community Supported Enterprise Grant “generously awarded to LHP from PTV will help fund substantial, critical renovations to the restaurant space located within Bemis Block,” says LHP Executive Director, Jim Lovinsky. The project is funded by PTV’s Community Supported Enterprise Grant. PTV’s Community Supported Enterprise Grant program is generously supported by the Northern Border Regional Commission, and aims to help support viable economic development and job creation efforts in communities across Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University junior biology major Dillon Zites, of Clarksville, Tenn., (pictured) will present his research on improving cancer treatment at this year’s Annual Posters on the Hill event on April 29-30 in Washington, D.C.

Hosted by the Council on Undergraduate Research, Posters on the Hill 2019 will showcase 60 top student research projects from over 350 applications.