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Health
Hundreds attend health care hearing at Statehouse
See what Vermonters had to say in video footage taken from the hearing. Continue reading
Video: Health care is ‘a public good’
The Vermont Workers’ Center is pushing for passage of health reform bills S.88 and H.100. Continue reading
Con Hogan: Health care costs are rising too quickly in Vermont
Con Hogan urges the Vermont Legislature to take concrete steps toward creating a single-payer system. Continue reading
Rationing, lack of public clinics limits access for children under 5 to H1N1 vaccine
The youngest, most at-risk children, age 6 months to five years, must get vaccinations from private doctors who are typically backlogged with patient requests, or wait for immunizations at public clinics, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that this age group receive inoculations first when vaccine is in short supply. Continue reading
State confirms 45 cases of H1N1 in Vermont
Davis says many more cases likely, illness deemed “widespread” across the state
Outbreak incidences mild, further vaccine delays will mean rescheduling some clinics
List of schools offering vaccination clinics The state confirmed 45 cases of the flu virus strain H1N1 in Vermont for the week ending Oct. 17. At a press conference today, Dr. Wendy Davis, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health, said the spread of the virus is “widespread,”… Continue reading
H1N1: Logistics 101
Some students will be bused to clinics; parents aren’t welcome to attend
Health Department stretched thin, hires home health nurses, asks volunteers to administer shots
What does it take to vaccinate tens of thousands of Vermont schoolchildren in four weeks? All hands on deck.
Mass vaccinations for H1N1 flu virus are scheduled to begin Oct. 26, and schools and health officials across… Continue reading 
‘Cyber Senator’ earmarks $1M for ePrescribe
VITL's electronic service purported to cut costs and limit errors from illegible prescriptions
Program incentivizes doctors to use ePrescribe instead of paper scripts MONTPELIER – Puzzled Montpelier Pharmacy customers found the aisles thronged with men in suits Friday morning. An elderly woman looked around and asked, “What’s going on?” The occasion was the announcement that Senator Patrick Leahy has secured a $1 million federal grant for Vermont Information Technology Leaders. Much of… Continue reading
Hospital adopts doctor report card system
Central Vermont Medical Center sets new quality standards for physicians
BERLIN – Nearly a decade ago the Institute of Medicine electrified the public and the medical community when it reported that as many as 98,000 patients die in hospitals each year from preventable medical errors. “To Err is Human” ignited widespread debate about the quality of care. Hospital administrators, physicians and academics agreed that quality was important, but there was less… Continue reading
Prison: A tough environment for mentally ill
Questions raised about Corrections care
Bounced from criminal justice system to mental health programs In August 2000, Leah Matteson and her family moved from Cambridge, N.Y., across the state line to Bennington: Matteson had heard the Bennington school system had a good program for children with serious mental illness. Her son Patrick Cristaldi had been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome at the age of 7. (The neurological disorder is characterized by tics… Continue reading
Officials say suicidal inmates are now monitored more closely by Corrections
Dr. Delores Burroughs-Biron, the health services director for the Department of Corrections, agrees that therapeutic options “should be part of almost any state statute that people who have a mental illness should be afforded certain protections.”
The corrections community agrees, she said, that segregated prisoners need to be monitored closely “for the purpose of following their mental health. We know that people who have mental illness or other functional impairments who… Continue reading
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