Health

Host Jan Riordan, Vice President of Healthy Living for the Y, talks with Susan Marx, Diabetes Prevention Program Coordinator, about a new Diabetes Prevention Program offered through the Y.  Barbara Mentzer, Northwestern Medical Center, and Penrose Jackson, FAHC, both call in with their perspectives on addressing this health issue.
More information at www.gbymca.org  802.862-8993

Benchmarks for a Better Vermont (BBVT) is a federally funded grant project to strengthen the capacity of Vermont nonprofits. This video was produced by CCTV Productions for the BBTV launch at the Vermont Nonprofit Conference on March 20, 2012. For more information visit bbvt.marlboro.edu

Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) celebrates the completion of their Gateway Project and new Riverside Health Center facility. Attending this momentous event will be United States Senator Bernie Sanders; United States Senator Patrick Leahy; Vermont Congressman Peter Welch; and City of Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger.  

The Gateway Project was a $11 million dollar construction project that put to work a general contracting firm, architects, 38 subcontracting companies and five engineering firms, 99% of them local Vermont firms. Their $11 million project was estimated to bring $17 million worth of economic activity back into the community. CHCB is also a major employer, with 135 staff working at five different sites in our region. The new facility is a LEED Certified “green” facility and has approximately doubled the size of the the previous building greatly increasing the availability of cost-effective primary care to Vermont's most populated region. The Community Health Centers of Burlington’s new Riverside Health Center building expanded the number of medical exam rooms from 18 to 26, dental operatories from 8 to 12 and counseling rooms from 4 to 9.

Major funding for the Gateway Project came from the Federal Facility Improvement Project (FIP) for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC). CHCB competed nationally for these funds with Federally Qualified Health Centers across the country. This funding was extremely competitive, with only 85 awards given out of 600 applicants. HRSA expected to award approximately $500 million dollars and had over $3 billion in requests.

CHCB’s funding award is a testimony to both the need and opportunity in Burlington, Vermont. CHCB is the only FQHC serving Chittenden County, caring for approximately 14,000 patients annually. With this new building, CHCB has the opportunity to positively impact the patient accessibility of the regional health system for many years to come.
 

Sponsored by the Green Mountain Patriots, speakers present how patients and consumers of healthcare services, doctors, and other healthcare providers in Vermont will be affected by the healthcare reforms passed by Governor Peter Shumlin and Vermont's Legislators.  Panelists include: Dr. Robert Letovsky, a faculty member of St. Michael's College who has lived in Canada under a Single Payer Healthcare system and currently resides in Vermont; Jeffrey Wennberg, Executive Director of Vermonters for Healthcare Freedom, providing an overview of the current Vermont legislation and future directions of the Green Mountain Care Board; Dr. Robert Emmons, private practice psyciatrist in Burlington, speaking on the ethical foundations of the Doctor-Patient Relationship and the interference posed by central government control and other third party players; Dr. Dan McCauliffe, board certified dermatoligist practicing in Rutland, discussing the effects that Green Mountain Care will have on health care providers and patient access to health care services; and Bob Gaydos, a principal at Digital Insurance, the nation's leading employee benefits agency, discussing the health inisurance system, pros and cons, and how it affects medical care, introducing alternatives to the reforms currently being proposed.  Question and answer period follows presentations.