Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Community Care Network (CCN) has announced its 2022 service results in conjunction with the release of its 2022 Impact Report. Among Community Care Network’s 2022 service results and areas of advancement are 178,296 hours of service provided to 3,094 clients across the functional service areas of Developmental Disabilities Services, Substance Use Disorders Treatment, Community Rehabilitation and Treatment, Adult Behavioral Health Services, Child and Family Services and Mental Health Crisis Services.

Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, Vermont Association of Hospitals & Health Systems Last week continued to be a mix of learning, introductions and policy initiatives. Workforce: VAHHS supports the Budget Adjustment Act’s language that would expand the preceptor pay beyond Critical Access Hospitals and provide flexibility for more wraparound services for pipeline programs. Our only concern is that the funding comes from the retention bonus program, and it is unclear how much will be dedicated to preceptor pay and pipeline programs. In addition to retention, Vermont must invest in future health care providers. Mental health: The House Health Care committee recommended including $9.25 million in the Budget Adjustment Act to fund inpatient psychiatric beds for adolescents.

Vermont Business Magazine “Get informed. Get screened. Get vaccinated.” Community Health supports Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. Cervical cancer is a condition that is preventable and curable. It can be detected by annual screening known as a PAP test. Also, the HPV vaccine, administered before a child is 14 years old, prevents the virus from becoming a cancer producing infection. Cervical cancer screenings and HPV vaccinations are part of routine primary care at Community Health.

Samaritan House, aka Tim’s House in St Albans, VT, a shelter serving adults experiencing homelessness in the Franklin and Grand Isle area, received a $960 donation from Northeast Delta Dental. The money was raised from the company’s Miles with a Mission, a monthly program that pairs personalized participation with philanthropic reward. For each participant who completes a 5K race, run or walk each month, Northeast Delta Dental will donate $10 to a charity chosen and voted on by the employees. In December, 2022, Tim's Place was chosen.

Vermont State Police Following a yearlong investigation, the Vermont State Police has cited Jeffrey Noyes, 54, of Bloomfield, Vermont, on a charge of felony sexual assault arising from an incident that occurred in October 2017 involving an underage girl. Noyes is the former chief of the Brighton and Canaan police departments in Essex County and was on duty at the time of the incident. The incident was reported in February 2022 to the Vermont State Police, which opened an investigation. A detective from outside the area was assigned as the lead investigator, with assistance from the Technology Investigation Unit and troopers from the Derby Barracks. VSP worked closely on the case with the Lamoille County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) has just released the Vermont Clean Water Initiative 2022 Performance Report that highlights water quality progress achieved through public investment. The report details how $337 million of state investment in water quality projects over the last seven years has been put to work to reduce and prevent pollution washing into Vermont’s rivers, lakes, and wetlands.

VermontBiz and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce announced the winner of the prestigious and highly anticipated Outstanding Business of the Year Award, 2022 at the Vermont Chamber’s Vermont Economic Conference on Monday, January 30th. This year’s winner is Hickok & Boardman Insurance Group. In 1821, William A. Griswold and Timothy L. Follett established Griswold & Follett Insurance Agency, the first Vermont division of the Aetna Insurance Company. Their small insurance agency has since endured, prospered, and become what we know today as Hickok & Boardman Insurance Group. Celebrating their bicentennial in 2021, Hickok & Boardman is the leading broker for property and casualty insurance in the state of Vermont for both personal and commercial clients. Hickok & Boardman’s mission and values are the impetus through which the company has been able to operate for two centuries and display excellence in growth, prosperity, and serving its employees and communities.

Vermont Business Magazine The companies of National Life Group are expanding their suite of living benefits, adding Alzheimer’s Disease and a new fertility journey rider, that began on January 28. These expansions have the potential to support many, as more than 6.5 million Americans are estimated to be living with Alzheimer’s dementia, and the average cost of one in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle is more than $12,000. Living Benefits are supplemental benefits that can be added to life insurance and are not suitable unless you also have a need for life insurance. Life insurance with living benefits could provide protection if you experience a qualifying terminal, chronic, critical illness, critical injury or a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease or Lewy Body Dementia.

Vermont Business Magazine National Unclaimed Property Day is this Wednesday, February 1, Treasurer Mike Pieciak and the State of Vermont is partnering again with the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) to remind Vermonters to search for and claim their missing money. The Treasurer’s Office currently holds $119 million of unclaimed property. In 2022, the Office paid out over 15,000 claims totaling over $5.3 million that went back into the pockets of Vermonters.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the appointment of Farzana Leyva, of Westfield, as Orleans County state’s attorney. Farzana has served as acting state’s attorney since Governor Scott appointed former state’s attorney Jennifer Barrett to the superior court. Leyva has worked in the Orleans County state’s attorney’s office since 2018, first as a law clerk and then as a deputy state’s attorney. Leyva graduated from Howard College School of Law, South Africa in 2005. She was admitted as an attorney to the South African Bar in 2007. In 2018, she passed the New York Bar Exam and in 2019 was admitted to the Vermont Bar. Leyva is a resident of Westfield and has lived in Orleans County since 2014.