Thursday, September 20, 2018
The state’s chief health care advocate, Michael Fisher called the statistics “very, very concerning.”
Fisher was part of a coalition of organizations that successfully pushed the state’s Medicaid health insurance program to start paying this year for hepatitis C medication for patients who don’t yet have liver damage.
Now advocates are turning their attention to Vermont’s prisons, where alarmingly few inmates are receiving the antiviral drugs that can cure hepatitis C, according to Fisher.
Tags: Vermont Department of Corrections , health care advocate , American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont , Hepatitis C , Jay Diaz , Michael Fisher , Ben Watts , Image , Web Only
UVM Medical Center said the agreement with the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals is a three-year contract that includes a 16 percent average base salary increase. The union, in turn, agreed to eliminate proposed increases to certain shift differentials. Pay increases for ambulatory nurses will be retroactive to the first full pay period in September, the hospital said.
"We believe this agreement provides meaningful wage increases and allows us to maintain our commitment to all employees and be responsible stewards of limited health care dollars," hospital spokesman Michael Carrese said.
Tags: University of Vermont Medical Center , nurses , strike , union , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
The department declined to give specific numbers, citing pending autopsies, but said it believes most of the overdoses are tied to fentanyl, a synthetic opiate many times more powerful than heroin.
In 2017, two-thirds of opiate overdose deaths involved fentanyl, and the number of fatal overdoses involving fentanyl has nearly quadrupled since 2014.
The Health Department says it is concerned that the synthetic opioid is now being mixed with other drugs, including cocaine.
Tags: Department of Health , fentanyl , heroin , Mark Levine , Opioid Crisis , overdose , Rutland , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
The crowd on Church Street, dressed in red and armed with signs and bullhorns, urged the hospital to offer its nurses better wages and increased staffing levels.
Their chants filtered into Burlington City Hall's Contois Auditorium, where the state's hospital oversight board would be tasked with reviewing, and eventually approving, the medical center's fiscal year 2019 budget.
At 9 a.m., top hospital brass lined up before the Green Mountain Care Board to testify for three hours on the institution's finances and plans for the future. But foremost in the officials' minds was the nurses, who have urged the board not to approve the budget until the sides agree on a contract.
Tags: Kevin Mullin , Green Mountain Care Board , John Brumsted , UVMMC , nurses , strike , Image , Web Only
Monday, July 30, 2018
But at least one policy has changed: The hospital no longer collects union dues from nurses' paychecks.
Under the previous three-year contract, the hospital collected dues automatically from members' biweekly paychecks and passed the funds along to the union. That agreement became "null and void" when the contract expired, according to UVM Medical Center spokesman Michael Carrese.
Tags: UVMMC , nurses , strike , labor , union , Julie MacMillan , Deb Snell , Michael Carrese , University of Vermont Medical Center , Image , Web Only
Friday, July 27, 2018
Red signs at Blanchard Beach in Oakledge Park and Leddy Beach in the city's North End warned visitors against entering the water. The closures came after a combined sewer overflow discharged thousands of gallons of dirty water into the Pine Street Barge Canal during an intense downpour Wednesday night. Authorities said the overflow was 90 percent stormwater "with a small wastewater fraction."
Robert Goulding, public information manager for the Department of Public Works, said the strong storm swept "animal waste, oils and litter" into the water, likely leading to the contamination.
Tags: Burlington , E. coli , wastewater , stormwater , combined sewer overflow , sewage , Lake Champlain , water quality , Leddy Beach , Oakledge Park , Blanchard Beach , Image , Web Only
Monday, July 16, 2018
That was the Burlington City Council's message to the University of Vermont Medical Center administrators and nurses who are divided on wages and working conditions.
The council unanimously passed a resolution Monday urging the two sides to find common ground after the nurses' union went on strike for two days last week. The nurses returned to work on Saturday without a contract, but have not yet returned to the bargaining table, much less come to an agreement with the hospital.
The nurses' union could strike again, though it would need to provide a 10-day notice to the hospital.
Tags: Eileen Whalen , University of Vermont Medical Center , hospital , labor , union , strike , nurses , Image , Slideshow , Web Only
Friday, July 13, 2018
Members of the 1,800-member union walked off the job Thursday complaining that low wages have led to staffing problems. The union is seeking roughly a 23 percent wage increase for registered nurses over three years.
The hospital's chief operating officer, Eileen Whalen, called the union’s request “unrealistic” at a press conference Friday afternoon. Hospital spokesman Michael Carrese said it would cost $30 million over three years.
Meanwhile, the two-day strike cost the hospital about $3 million, according to Whalen. Much of that went to paying for nurses from out of town to cover for the strikers.
Tags: University of Vermont Medical Center , nurses , hospital , strike , labor , union , picket , wages , contract , Bernie Sanders , Senator , Image , Web Only
Champlain Valley Dispensary opened its newest shop and office space in late June on Green Tree Drive, around the corner from the South Burlington police station. A bill last year allowed each of Vermont’s five medical marijuana dispensary licensees to open a satellite location. Champlain Valley, which opened its flagship downtown Burlington dispensary in 2013, is the first in the state to take advantage of the law.
Bridget Conry, Champlain Valley’s director of sales and product development, said the company runs a grow operation in South Burlington and had a good relationship with city officials as it prepared to expand.
“When we had the opportunity, we took it,” said Conry. “It’s not downtown; it’s easier to get to for some patients; it’s quieter; there’s more space and there’s plenty of parking.”
Tags: Cannabeat , weed , pot , marijuana , legalization , Champlain Valley Dispensary , Bridget Conry , dispensaries , Image , Web Only
Thursday, July 12, 2018
The nurses' union at the University of Vermont Medical Center officially went on strike at 7 a.m. Thursday.
A sizable crowd of nurses, most wearing red shirts and holding signs and cups of coffee, gathered outside the hospital’s main entrance by 6:10 a.m. The group cheered as more colleagues joined them. Some talked among themselves about the disappointing end to negotiations with hospital management, which refused to meet nurses' contract demands. The union has complained about short staffing and said the hospital must increase compensation to attract more nurses.
Keith Brunner, a union spokesperson, said nearly 1,300 nurses had signed up to picket during the strike. Union leaders addressed the crowd with words of encouragement at 7 a.m., and then the medical center workers split up into three groups based on nursing units to picket at different hospital entrances.
Tags: strike , nurses , UVMMC , UVM Medical Center , Eileen Whalen , Julie MacMillan , hospital , labor , Rights & Democracy , Image , Slideshow , Web Only