Current News

By Morgan True, VT Digger After listening to hours of painful personal stories, lawmakers said they need to do more to ensure psychiatric patients receive appropriate care and support services.
Vermonters suffering from mental illness and family members testified at a public hearing Thursday night on the state’s involuntary treatment process. More than 30 people spoke at the hearing on S.287, a bill before the Senate Judiciary and Health and Welfare committees, which seeks to streamline the judicial review process for orders of involuntary medication.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, was struck by how long it takes for patients to go through the involuntary treatment process.
He said he recognizes that forced medication can be devastating for patients, but said he didn’t believe S.287 would lead to more involuntary medication orders and, if anything, would lead to quicker court rulings.

By Laura Krantz, VT Digger Alleged criminals who can’t stand trial because of a brain injury need mental health services, not a free pass, advocates told lawmakers this week. They support a bill aimed at plugging a loophole in court proceedings for the mentally ill.
A woman whose son was sexually assaulted by a relative who suffered a traumatic brain injury described the daily nightmare of living next door to the man who admitted to assaulting her son.
She and others said the law should be changed so that people with traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, can be eligible for a ‘commitment hearing,’ in which a judge can admit them for mental health services.
Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, told how the son of a family friend sexually assaulted her several years ago. The man suffered a traumatic brain injury after a car hit him when he was 9 years old. Now he is 40, she said.

by Michael O’Connor Without effective biopharmaceutical treatments, I’d be relying on caregiver support for my daily needs. And that’s why I, a Parkinson’s disease survivor, am such a staunch advocate for the clinical research biopharmaceutical companies have conducted, and continue to pursue, in Vermont.
According to a new report, ‘Research in Your Backyard: Pharmaceutical Clinical Trials in Vermont,’ biopharmaceutical companies have conducted 566 trials of new medicines in the state since 1999, and more than half of them have targeted our most debilitating chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. While I have found clinical trials and biomarker research nationally available, I am hopeful there will be Parkinson’s disease (PD) trials established in the backyards of Vermonter’s real soon!

Surgeons can now explore parts of the human body with significantly more light and a higher resolution, higher quality image than was previously possible. Until the recent launch of the Hyperion 300â ¢ Light Source, made by Nathaniel Group of Vergennes, Vermont, with Integrated Awaiba Video Processor, the image quality from flexible endoscopes made it difficult to see into areas of the body that could only be reached with an in incision no smaller than 5mm or through a natural orifice. This is about to change with a groundbreaking collaboration between two leaders in the medical device industry: Nathaniel Group and Awaiba GmbH of Germany.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Amanda Bean finally got tired of losing everything. The mother of five spent much of her adult life incarcerated and a slave to opiates and other drugs. Her lifestyle choices cost Bean her three oldest children, who now live with her parents.
Finally, Bean had had enough. After spending the past three months of her most recent pregnancy homeless, Bean was admitted a week before she delivered to Lund Family Center, a mental health and substance abuse treatment center for mothers in Burlington.

Telemedicine used at nursing homes during hours when doctors are not typically present is a viable way to reduce avoidable hospitalizations, according to research published in February’s issue of Health Affairs.
Hospitalizations of nursing home residents are occurring more frequently, and result in complications, morbidity and expensive Medicare costs. When a medical issue arises on nights and weekends that cannot be addressed by the on-call physician not present at the facility, the doctor can either travel to the nursing home or recommend that the resident be sent to the hospital emergency room. Very often, the physician recommends the hospital emergency room.

Patient Engagement Systems, of Burlington, Vermont, announced today it has enhanced its suite of patient engagement and clinical decision support tools for patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) with the addition of DPS Health’s Virtual Lifestyle Management (VLM) service. Together, this enhancement underscores PES’s commitment to help health plans, medical groups and providers improve outcomes and lower the costs associated with treating patients with chronic conditions.
By enhancing the Patient Engagement Systems’ solution with the VLM service, PES customers will now have access to lifestyle coaching and behavior change services integrated directly with population monitoring, analytics and communication.

by John McClaughry Last week’s Vermont Education Funding System report from the Vermont Realtors Association paints a startling picture of the financing of Vermont elementary and secondary education.
Here are just a few eye-opening findings in the 40-page report, prepared by Dr. Art Woolf and Dick Heaps of Northern Economic Consulting:

Mayor Miro Weinberger announced Monday that the City of Burlington and Citibank have reached a Mediated Settlement Agreement in the Burlington Telecom lawsuit, which will settle the $33-plus million lawsuit for $10.5 million, plus a share of BT’s future value. The settlement is expected to be funded largely from BT revenues and non-City sources and will avoid removal of BT’s fiber optic system. Earlier today, federal district court judge The Honorable William K Sessions, III, granted the parties’ joint request to stay the litigation to allow for implementation of the settlement agreement, following City Council approval and Vermont Public Service Board action.

The North East State Foresters Association (NEFA) and the VT Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation have released a report detailing The Economic Importance of Vermont’s Forest-based Economy. The report highlights the various sectors of Vermont’s economy that depend on wood, forests, and trees. The total economic value of Vermont’s forest economy is pegged at over $3.4 billion dollars for 2012. Among other findings: total forestry related jobs have slipped since a peak in 2008; more than a third of harvested cords are exported and nearly as many are imported into Vermont; total harvest levels are significantly less than they were in 1997; and residential heating is still a vital part of the timber industry.

The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) has approved $4.7 Million in development financing for commercial energy, small business and agricultural projects throughout Vermont. Financing approvals by the Authority include:
· $2.0 Million to Claire Solar Partners, LLC in South Burlington to help finance the construction and management of a 2.2 MW AC solar array on 22 acres of land on Hinesburg Road (Route 116), adjacent to the Chittenden Cider Mill property. Mascoma Savings Bank also is providing financing for the $8.7 Million project;
· Renewal of VEDA's 75% mortgage insurance agreement for another year's commitment by Wells River Savings Bank to renew its existing loan balance of $117,942 to Bradford Veneer & Panel Co., Inc. in Bradford. Original loan proceeds allowed the company to restructure its debt and provide it with working capital;

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine There is the demographic problem, both with a minuscule population growth and finding the right workers for jobs that are going vacant; there is New York state and its no-tax pledge for new companies for 10 years; there is the painfully slow emergence from the Great Recession, now nearly five years gone (June 2009); there is a budget shortfall; there is the closing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and its uncertain decommissioning; there is at least one tax hike coming, though perhaps a few relatively small ones; and there is the weather, which anyone can complain about. So why are the state economists so upbeat?
Jeff Carr and Tom Kavet. VBM photo.