Thursday, June 7, 2018
Nurses will vote on June 10, 11 and 12 about whether to initiate a two-day strike once the current three-year union contract ends on July 9. If a majority of members want to walk out, the union would serve the hospital a 10-day strike notice on June 29.
MacMillan said the 1,800-member union is working to nail down more bargaining dates with the hospital in the hopes of reaching a resolution before a strike. Wednesday's vote gives the bargaining committee further proof its membership is serious about its demands, she said.
Tags: nurses , union , strike , UVM Medical Center , Julie MacMillan , University of Vermont Medical Center , Image , Web Only
Friday, June 1, 2018
Friday was meant to be the final day of negotiations, but six hours after the morning event, union leaders told hundreds of nurses and community members packed inside the Davis Auditorium that no deal had been made. The current contract is scheduled to expire on July 9.
Leaders called for members of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, which represents about 1,800 nurses at UVM Medical Center, to attend an all-member meeting on June 6 to voice their opinions on the union's bottom line and the methods they should use to obtain their goals.
Earlier in the day, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, rallied with the nurses outside of the hospital. The national labor leader called for the hospital to care for its community and spend money on nurses rather than on administrative salaries.
“You're acting like the Trump administration, not like a Vermont administration,” Weingarten said.
Tags: Senator , union , University of Vermont Medical Center , labor relations , nurses , Bernie Sanders , Eileen Whalen , Randi Weingarten , Julie MacMillan , Anna Westervelt , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
The bill would have expanded the power of the commissioner of the Department of Health to regulate products that pose a risk of exposing children to toxic chemicals. The commissioner, who is appointed by the governor, would have been able to require health labeling on products or even ban their sale.
The House's vote to override the veto failed to get approval from two thirds of the representatives present, as required by the state's constitution. Ninety-four representatives voted in favor of the bill and 53 voted against it.
One of those standing with the Republican governor was Rep. David Ainsworth (R-South Royalton), who had been out sick. He returned to the chamber to help the GOP's cause, casting his first votes of the session.
Tags: Phil Scott , Don Turner , David Ainsworth , Fred Baser , William Canfield , Martha Feltus , James Harrison , Richard Lawrence , Terry Norris , toxics , consumer protection , veto , Department of Health , Image , Web Only
The kits, which allow users to determine if heroin is laced with the potent, often undetectable opiate, have been handed out to 130 people across the state, Health Department officials told Seven Days.
Health Commissioner Mark Levine said that the project has been a success: 90 percent of users said in follow-up interviews that they changed their behavior — by discarding the batch of heroin, using less, making sure they had an overdose-reversing drug on hand, or using in the presence of someone else — if the kit detected fentanyl.
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , fentanyl , Health Department , Mark Levine , opiates , Opioid Crisis , overdose , Rutland , Image , Web Only
Monday, April 23, 2018
“It has to happen,” Human Services Secretary Al Gobeille told members of the House Health Care Committee last Tuesday. “If we did nothing with rates and nothing to improve their business position, Brattleboro Retreat would go bankrupt.”
Retreat CEO Louis Josephson moderated Gobeille's prognosis during an April 20 interview but acknowledged that without a rate increase, the facility would likely have to “shrink dramatically” to stay in business.
That could have a catastrophic impact on what's already considered a mental health crisis in Vermont.
The 119-bed Retreat, which operates on a budget of approximately $70 million, serves both children and adults. Since Tropical Storm Irene destroyed the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury in 2011, Vermont has contracted with the private psychiatric hospital to reserve 14 beds for patients who are in state custody and tend to be severely ill.
According to Josephson, half of the Retreat’s revenue comes from patients on Medicaid, the health insurance program funded by the state and federal governments. The rates set by the state to pay for those patients have remained essentially flat for eight years. Expenses, meanwhile, have steadily risen.
Tags: Brattleboro Retreat , Al Gobeille , mental health , Louis Josephson , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Vermont registered 107 non-suicide fatal overdoses in 2017, up from 106 in 2016 and 75 in 2015.
Health Department data make clear that the spread of fentanyl, a synthetic opiate many times more powerful than heroin, has been a major driver of the problem.
Two-thirds of the fatalities in 2017 involved fentanyl, up from 50 percent in 2016, according to the department. The number of opiate overdose fatalities involving fentanyl in Vermont has nearly quadrupled since 2014.
Meanwhile, fatal overdoses that involved heroin and prescription drugs fell in 2017, though many people overdose with a mixture of drugs in their system.
Tags: fentanyl , Health Department , heroin , opiate , Opioid Crisis , overdose , Tracy Dolan , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 15, 2018
In a scathing letter to Gov. Phil Scott, Mary Val Palumbo accused his administration of ignoring recommendations from the Governor's Health Care Workforce Work Group and attempting to squelch dissent.
"Our feedback does not align with the current [Agency of Human Services] stance and budget proposal, and we are being silenced," Palumbo wrote.
An associate professor at the University of Vermont's College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Palumbo has led the work group since then-governor Peter Shumlin established it in 2013. The panel, which includes roughly two dozen health care professionals and administration officials, is charged with recommending approaches to recruit and retain health care workers in Vermont.
Another member of the group, Stowe psychologist Rick Barnett, also recently resigned, expressing frustrations similar to Palumbo's.
Tags: Governor's Health Care Workforce Work Group , Vermont Educational Repayment Program , Mary Val Palumbo , Mary Kate Mohlman , Phil Scott , Al Gobeille , Rick Barnett , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Burlington opioid policy manager Jackie Corbally, Deputy Police Chief Shawn Burke and Fire Chief Steve Locke will make up Burlington's new safe response team, which will launch February 1 as a four-month pilot.
The team will visit within 24 hours of an overdose — ideally on the same day, Corbally said. At each home, the team will offer resources for treatment, contact information for Corbally and the overdose-reversing drug Narcan. Corbally said she expects the team will respond to two to five calls each week.
“We’re going to be relentless,” she said. “We are going to find folks and let them know we care.”
Tags: Jackie Corbally , Shawn Burke , Steve Locke , Burlington Police Department , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 22, 2018
Authored by University of Vermont professor Richard Rawson, the study found that hub and spoke patients recorded an 89 percent decrease in emergency department visits after they received treatment and a 90 percent drop in police stops and arrests. By several measures, the report found that users receiving care in the treatment system were dramatically better off than users who were not receiving care.
Perhaps most encouragingly, none of the participants in treatment had overdosed in the three months leading up to the study interview, compared to 25 percent who had overdosed in the three months before entering treatment.
Tags: Health Department , Mark Levine , opiates , Opioid Crisis , overdoses , Richard Rawson , University of Vermont , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 12, 2018
Through his lawyer, Brooks McArthur, Shapiro denied any wrongdoing. McArthur issued a statement Friday that said Shapiro had expressed his displeasure with staff members over a serious "internal procedural error." As a result, one or more staffers filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Services Agency alleging that Shapiro created "a hostile or intimidating work environment," according to McArthur.
The public should understand that "this investigation and the allegations against him do not have any nexus to criminal activity nor involve any conduct of a sexual nature," McArthur's statement reads. "Dr. Shapiro will respect the investigative process and he looks forward to getting back to work."
Deputy Medical Examiner Elizabeth Bundock is handling some of Shapiro's responsibilities in the meantime. Shapiro went out on leave Tuesday.
Tags: University of Vermont Medical Center , medical examiner , Steven Shapiro , autopsies , Image , Web Only