“Too many Vermonters give up on health care, fearing they can’t afford it, or struggle to book an appointment and give up” (Bill Schubart: Lessons from a community-engaged hospital in Vermont, Oct. 15, 2023).
Rightly praising Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, the writer overlooked availability of primary-care appointments for new patients.
According to the Brattleboro hospital’s Central Scheduling as of this writing, two among 19 primary-care practitioners are scheduling new patients’ initial office visits — in April 2024. Urgent consultations can be sooner.
ClearChoiceMD Urgent Care’s Brattleboro office is busy serving these patients, as are urgent-care practices statewide, demonstrating another way to provide primary care that the writer overlooked but we should not because electronic medical records now can facilitate continuity of care.
Howard Fairman
Putney
