Current News

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported last week that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations remain close to zero statewide, after a spike last winter. Overall COVID trends are declining in Vermont and across the US. The Vermont COVID-19 pandemic death total stands at 1,299 as of June 28, 2025, with 1 reported death from the previous week (the most recent data available from the CDC). Vermont has the second lowest state fatality rate in the US (148.3 per 100K; Hawaii 113.6/100K). Mississippi (465.9/100K) and Oklahoma (461.3/100K) have the highest rates. The US average is 308.1/100K (CDC data). 

Vermont Business Magazine University of Vermont Medical Center has graduated the first sponsored cohort of Registered Nurses (RNs) from its innovative internal Nursing Pathway Program. These graduates, who began their journeys as Licensed Nursing Assistants (LNAs) at UVM Medical Center, earned their academic credentials in May 2025 and are now licensed as RNs and Practical Nurses (LPNs), marking a significant milestone in Vermont’s healthcare workforce development. The graduating cohort includes seven RNs and eight LPNs. This pipeline program is a strategic response to Vermont’s nursing shortage and University of Vermont Health Network’s commitment to strengthening internal career pathways. By investing in existing staff, UVM Medical Center reduces reliance on expensive traveling nurses and fosters a local, stable, community-connected nursing workforce.

Vermont State Police A man shot by a Vermont State Police trooper Monday afternoon in Putney has died. The shooting occurred at about 4:30 p.m. at the Putney Landing Apartments at 23 Neumann Lane, where police had responded earlier in the day after receiving a complaint from an individual who was concerned about how a neighbor was acting. VSP troopers obtained a search warrant and an arrest warrant for the man living at the apartment in question. The circumstances of the shooting remain under active investigation. The man was pronounced deceased on scene. The trooper who fired his service weapon was uninjured.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Speaker of the House, Representative Jill Krowinski, announced her appointments to the School District Redistricting Task Force which was created in H.454 (Act 73) of 2025. The legislation gave the Speaker authority to appoint three members of the House, one former superintendent, and one former school business manager or school board member. The Senate appointments were named yesterday.

Vermont Business Magazine From July 2023 to July 2024, Vermont experienced multiple flooding events with enough damage to secure five federal disaster declarations. Collectively, these floods spanned every one of Vermont’s 14 counties and more than 150 cities, towns and villages, causing well over a billion dollars in damage. With the two biggest storms hitting the state on the exact same dates (July 10-11) in both 2023 and 2024, Governor Phil Scott is taking this week to reflect on the impact, the progress, and the work left to do to recover, rebuild and increase resiliency. Last week Senator Peter Welch introduced legislation to reform FEMA.

Vermont Business Magazine Cathedral Square has been awarded a grant for $125,000 from the Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation (CDRI) to enhance the quality and availability of dementia-specific respite care for people living with dementia and their caregivers in Chittenden County. Cathedral Square is one of 41 recipients chosen to receive grant funding from more than 200 applicants across the country. Funds will be used to pilot a new concept of providing respite care in Cathedral Square’s Memory Care at Allen Brook (MCAB) community in Williston to help caregivers get a break or respite from caring for their loved ones.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to Vermont’s growing mental health crisis and a critical shortage of trained professionals—especially in rural communities—the University of Vermont (UVM) has received a $1.2 million federal grant to expand and enhance its clinical psychology doctoral training program. Awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the grant—titled VT HEALS—will support UVM’s nationally accredited clinical psychology Ph.D. program over the next three years. The funding will bolster training in integrated care, substance use treatment, and trauma-informed approaches, equipping future psychologists to meet the state’s most urgent mental health needs.

Vermont Business Magazine Hospice and Palliative Care Program Director Annie Meredith-Mitchell, MSN, RN, CHPN of University of Vermont Health Network – Home, Health & Hospice attributes the organization’s recent 5 Star rating from Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to the expertise and compassion of the staff.  “This team truly loves what they do and are committed to the work,” she said. The Hospice and Palliative Care program earned the high marks from CMS’s Hospice Quality Report. Data is gathered from surveys completed by family caregivers. Conducted monthly by CMS, the survey contains 47 questions about communication with family, symptom management, compassion and overall satisfaction of the care provided. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Aging Network Consortium (VANC) has announced that its proposal, “Modernizing Vermont’s No Wrong Door (NWD) Older Vermonters Helpline and Information Systems Network Infrastructure,” has been selected as one of twelve national grant recipients by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living (ACL). Through this two-year, $450,000 project, VANC—working in affiliation with all five of Vermont’s Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs)—will serve as the hub for an enhanced and modernized Information, Assistance, and Referral (IA&R) system. This includes a reimagined “Older Vermonters Helpline” and the development of updated technology infrastructure that enhances accessibility, consistency, and service quality statewide.

Vermont Business Magazine The American Red Cross in Vermont urges all donors to give blood or platelets now to keep the blood supply strong this summer. Type O blood products are most needed on hospital shelves – especially in the face of summer challenges that can quickly cause blood and platelet reserves to drop.  In addition to summer fun and holidays, severe summer weather can have a sudden impact on the ability to collect blood and platelets. Scheduling and keeping donation appointments are crucial this month to ensure blood products are constantly available in the weeks to come for all patients, including those in trauma situations that may require several lifesaving transfusions.  

Vermont Business Magazine M&T Bank (MYCE: MTB) in partnership with the Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity will hold a volunteer event to paint a duplex the nonprofit has constructed for two families in Randolph VT. The nonprofit was a recipient of a grant from M&T Bank’s Amplify Fund, which awarded $4.9 million in grants to 51 nonprofit organizations across New England and Long Island and Westchester County, New York in 2025. This family friendly event will see these two homes painted for its new residents – a grandmother raising two small children and a Rwandan immigrant with her mother and two children. 

by Timothy Dean, Dartmouth College Innovative research led by a team of investigators from Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medine—in collaboration with national and local organizations across the U.S.—is showing promise for the development of a digital health app designed to help emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians manage job stress. EMS clinicians are repeatedly placed in isolated and unpredictable situations with only an ambulance and limited equipment, personnel, and medical oversight to care for patients. These work-related factors put them at higher risk for chronic stress, mental health problem, and substance use.