Current News

Vermont Business Magazine On Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. ET, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) will convene public health leaders in Arlington, VA, to discuss the health effects of extreme heat, wildfires and air quality, intensifying storms, infectious diseases, and more. The panelists will include Mark Levine, MD, commissioner of health, Vermont Department of Health.

Vermont Business Magazine In the period 2018-2022, more Lyme disease claim lines were filed for individuals in the 51-60 age group than any other group, according private insurance claims and released today by FAIR Health. Individuals aged 51 to 60 accounted for 23.5 percent of Lyme disease claim lines, compared to 18.8 percent in the next largest age group, 41-50. The remaining age groups studied, with their percentages of Lyme disease claim lines, were 31-40 (14.1 percent), 19-30 (14.0 percent), 61-70 (13.9 percent), 0-18 (11.3 percent) and over 70 (4.3 percent). In 2022, the top Lyme disease states, from highest to lowest, were New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Vermont Business Magazine The Board of Directors for Heritage Family Credit Union in Rutland today announced the appointment of Christopher Gomez as the credit union’s next President/CEO. Gomez will take over the reins from the current retiring President/CEO Matthew Levandowski, on Monday, November 6, 2023. 

Vermont Business Magazine Following the 2023 Legislative session, the Vermont General Assembly has made changes to the unemployment insurance (UI) laws related to small non-profit organizations. Act 76, which became law on June 20, 2023, requires all non-profit organizations to participate in providing unemployment insurance coverage, regardless of size. Previously, these organizations with fewer than four employees were exempt from needing to provide unemployment insurance coverage for their employees. This change becomes effective July 1, 2024. 

It's not too late to Plan, Host or Find an event; visit MFG Day today! Many thanks to Chroma Technology Corp., Fab-Tech Inc., Fourbital Factory and Maple Landmark Woodcraft for opening their doors this month for tours and presentations. Still to come, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce: 2023 Manufacturing Supply Chain virtual summit on October 25 and 26.

by Bill Schubart Too often I write about our misunderstanding of the complex systems that plague us and our failure to reimagine them as functional solutions to our many social and economic problems. This column will be different. I was recently invited to speak and participate in Windham County’s “Windham Aging” conference at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Their hospital CEO, Chris Dougherty, and I were kick-off speakers. The invitation was from two of the founding partners of “Windham Aging,” former Secretary of Agriculture and CEO of Grace Cottage Hospital, Roger Allbee and David Neumeister, a retired Brattleboro dentist. Another founder, Dr. Carolyn Taylor-Olson of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital also participated.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) small business owners face a range of challenging barriers to growth, according to the just released results of extensive focus group research conducted by the Vermont Professionals of Color Network (VT PoC). The focus groups were part of a larger project coordinated by the Vermont Small Business Development Center, as the hub of a Community Navigator Pilot Program grant, funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, examining the challenges facing underrepresented small business owners in the state.    

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, Jake Steinfeld, Chairman of the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils (NFGFC), dignitaries and students will cut the ribbon on Missisquoi Valley Union School’s new DON’T QUIT! Fitness Center at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 19, 2023.  The school was one of three Vermont schools selected as the state’s most outstanding schools for demonstrating leadership in getting and keeping their students fit.  The other two winning schools were Essex Middle School in Essex Junction and Milton Middle School in Milton. Governor Scott signed a proclamation declaring October as "DON’T QUIT! Fitness Month."

Vermont Business Magazine At the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region (VNAHSR), volunteers play a critical role in enhancing the end-of-life experiences of people facing serious illness and their families. Volunteers represent all life experiences and are drawn to hospice for a variety of reasons, but the defining characteristics that unite them are compassion and the desire to help others. Their many skills are matched to important tasks within our mission. VNAHSR provides training for those interested in becoming hospice volunteers. 

Vermont Business Magazine BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, and Rutland, Vermont-based Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CWST) (Casella), a solid waste, recycling, and resource management services company, have announced the most recent results of a recycling pilot to manage discarded syringes and needles that led to 40,000 pounds of medical waste being recycled and diverted from disposal.  Health care facilities are a major consumer of syringes, which have been particularly difficult to recycle due to the various components and steps involved in the process, including safe handling of medical waste and treating and sterilizing materials before they can be re-introduced for recycling. This recycling pilot helps address a historic challenge within the health care industry – which generates more than 3 billion pounds of plastic waste in the U.S. alone.1 

Vermont Business Magazine In advance of the cold and flu season, Rutland Regional Medical Center is updating their visitor guidelines and asking the public’s help in curbing the spread of infectious diseases. The hospital relaxed some of their visitor guidelines this past summer and has extended visitation hours from 9am to 9pm seven days a week, as well as reopening its Allen Street entrance. Some of the nuances to the visitor guidelines include clarification around the number of visitors who can visit an individual patient or go to a particular unit. This may also include a restriction to the amount of time that a patient may have a visitor.

Vermont Business Magazine Ninety days after the federal disaster declaration for the state of Vermont following July’s severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides, more than $78.3 million in federal assistance has been provided by FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) directly to Vermonters to aid in their recovery. The funds include grants from FEMA, payouts from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and long-term, low-interest disaster loans from SBA. Residents of nine Vermont counties are eligible to apply for Individual Assistance: Caledonia, Chittenden, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Rutland, Washington, Windham and Windsor. Homeowners and renters whose homes and property were damaged by the storms now have until October 31, 2023, to apply.