The University of Vermont Medical Center HealthSource blog is your leading source for community health news and articles from industry experts. Read through a collection of community health news and articles on a variety of topics such as addiction, substance abuse, sexual assault, mental health and more. The HealthSource community health blog features an array of regular authors and contributors from the medical world including doctors, nutritionists, nurse practitioners, healthcare executives and community partners.
Providing education, advocacy and support of organ donation isn’t just part of my professional role, it’s part of my personal life as a wife, mom and daughter. My personal story Eleven years ago this month, just months after the birth of our first child, our family received the phone call that would not only change […]
For Donna and Mike Andre of Brushton, NY, numbers define the moments leading to their son Ben’s tragic death. It was March 17, 2015 – St. Patrick’s Day, Mike’s birthday. Ben had gone to a friend’s house to wait for his girlfriend to get off work at 11. It was classic North Country March weather: […]
The Vermont legislature is considering several bills which will make it more difficult for teens to access tobacco products and tobacco substitutes, such as e-cigarettes and vaping products. These include: The restriction of internet sales of vaping products; A new tax on e-cigarettes and vaping products; and A bill to raise the age to purchase […]
April 11th is Dog Therapy Appreciation Day Hi there! My name is Maisey and I am a seven-year-old golden retriever. I am also a therapy dog. Many people have questions about what therapy dogs do. It’s a very good question. We are dogs with special training to interact with many different groups of people and […]
Please join us on Wednesday, April 17, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for “Say it Out Loud: Who’s Your Person? What’s Your Plan?,” featuring a TED Talk Screening and panel discussion about advance care planning. The session will also include an opportunity to discuss the process and tools for medical decision making in Vermont. To […]
April is National “Donate Life” month, an opportunity to celebrate life-saving organ and tissue donors and the recipients whose lives they save. Most often, transplant surgery relies on altruistic generosity. For those waiting with end-stage organ failure, their lives and future are in the hands of strangers, and they wait, not knowing if they will […]
March 17-23 is National Poison Prevention Week. We all have a role to play in preventing poisonings. Poisonings affect people of all ages, in all kinds of situations. The Northern New England Poison Center (NNEPC) is available 24/7 to offer treatment advice in an emergency and to answer poison-related questions. Call 1-800-222-1222. All calls are […]
It’s fitting that National Donor Day is February 14, a day we already associate with love. On this day, we raise awareness about organ donation and celebrate the lives of organ and tissue donors. Most people will eventually be affected by donation in their lives. They will either know someone who needs, or has received […]
We recently received feedback from a transgender patient who sought care at our organization. She felt angry and disappointed to read her clinical treatment note and see repeated use of the wrong pronoun: “he” instead of “she.” Our failure to use the correct gender pronoun contributed to this patient feeling a lack of dignity and […]
Public statement by Eileen Whalen, MHA, RN, president of The University of Vermont Medical Center. It is disappointing that on the fourth day of this New Year, we are gathered to discuss a significant increase in the number of opioid-related overdoses seen at the University of Vermont Medical Center’s Emergency Department. At 6 a.m. this […]
