The University of Vermont Health Network

Medicaid is pediatric health care. Over 40 percent of children in New York and Vermont are enrolled in Medicaid.

Running for My Life: Amanda Gibbs I love the energy and movement that comes with being out in nature. Whether it’s minus 40 degrees or 90 degrees, I love the fresh air. It’s invigorating. Growing up around the Finger Lakes, my family was always active. Summers were filled with water skiing, swimming, boating, hiking and climbing. Winters meant skiing or hibernating — I chose skiing with my dad. We’d cross country and downhill, or we’d go sledding, just to be outdoors in the snow. Now, I’m doing the same with my six-year-old son. Sports were a big part of my life. I played field hockey and softball in high school and continued softball in college. After graduation, I needed to find a new outlet for my super competitive spirit. That’s when I started running. At first, my best friend and I just ran together. After a while, she suggested we try a half-marathon in Lake Placid. That was about 20 years ago, and we loved it so much that things just took off from there. The next year, we ran our first full marathon together, again in Lake Placid. With each race, we set new goals and push each other a little bit harder. In 2023, we set our sights on ultra-marathons — a huge commitment for me and my young family with a lot of training time on weekends for about a year. Our first test: a 50-mile trail race in Vermont last fall. We gained 9,000 feet of elevation over more than 10 hours of running, walking, tripping and laughing. It was an amazing experience. I learned there are no limits to what I can do. If I train my mind, my body will follow. That’s the kind of attitude I want to instill in my son. Amanda Gibbs, a registered dietitian at University of Vermont Health Network – Alice Hyde Medical Center, has been with us for ten years.

Community Healers: Cheryl Meserve Caring for our community is a family tradition. My father’s mother, Marilyn Moses, started a family medicine practice out of her home in Southborough, Massachusetts, after being the only woman in her class in medical school. She practiced pediatrics there for nearly 40 years. When I was 10, my other grandmother came to live with us in Ticonderoga, New York. She was ill and needed care, so I volunteered to be her caregiver. She said, “You know, you’re good at this – you should be a nurse.” And just like that, I was on my path to a career in medicine. Marilyn’s father, Luther Moses, was a resolute farmer in the early 20th century. Her uncle, Horace Moses, was a successful businessman, perhaps better known as the benefactor of Moses Ludington Hospital and Hancock House. Both men were generous, supporting youth, agriculture, education and their local community. I strive each day to give back just as they did. I work at the Ticonderoga emergency department of Elizabethtown Community Hospital, which sits on the site of the hospital established by Horace and his business partner, Mary Ludington, more than 100 years ago. I am proud of where I come from, and it impacts the care I provide as an ED nurse. If you are walking into the ED, chances are, it’s not your best day. People are often frightened, in pain or nervous about their loved ones. A familiar face can help. I’m thankful that because of my deep ties to the community, I can often be that familiar face and help calm my patients. Like Luther Moses, farming is my passion. I own horses and cows on land next to my parents, who still live on the Moses homestead. My 5-year-old son, Luther, can already ride a horse on his own. He and my 2-year-old son, Charlie, love to help out on the farm and care for our animals. Our family loves to go horse camping in the Adirondacks, sometimes riding for more than 20 miles before settling down for the night. I do not know what the future holds for my boys. But I hope they consider carrying on the work of our ancestors, working hard each day to give back to our little community.

The Vermont Department of Health confirmed a measles case in a school-aged child in Lamoille County yesterday. With recent measles outbreaks making national headlines, Pediatric Infectious Disease Physician William Raszka, MD, offers crucial safety insights.

Excited to be attending the AAOS 2025 conference on behalf of the University of Vermont Health Network! Come visit us at booth #2014 to explore orthopedic career opportunities within our organization. Looking forward to connecting with fellow professionals and sharing what makes UVM Health Network a great place to grow your career! #AAOS2025 #Orthopedics #UVMHealthNetwork American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)

Uncharted Waters: Ian Campbell Growing up, I dreamt of serving in the Navy like my uncle. I enrolled in a Naval Junior ROTC program when I turned 15 to follow in his footsteps. A physical exam revealed that I’m epileptic. I was devastated. It shut the door on the military, and things I dreamed about like a driver’s license. I wasn’t even allowed to ride my bike. I found myself in an unfamiliar world, on a regimen of anticonvulsants. It wasn’t all bad. My whole life, I would kind of zone out. I flunked my first year of high school, couldn’t concentrate, remember things, had mood swings. The seizures were to blame. Once my epilepsy was under control, things changed. Thanks to summer school and night classes, I crammed four years of high school into three. I learned photography and how to use a darkroom, even worked at a one-hour photo place for a bit. I went to college, studied to become a high school teacher, hated it, left college, then got a job at AOL. One night, my car broke down on the highway. A drunk driver plowed into me head-on. I survived, but the seizures returned, this time tonic-clonic. The crash also left me with PTSD and a left leg that clicks when I walk. I tried to move forward. I held a few more IT jobs. Got divorced. My sister lost her battle with cancer. Got laid off in the Great Recession. Enrolled in tech school, became an auto mechanic. Got married. Had my first child. Got laid off, again (COVID) and tried to move forward. Again. We moved to Vermont. I started at CVMC in IT in 2020, right in time for the cyberattack. I enrolled at Goddard College, completing the bachelor’s degree I’d started years before. I was in their last graduating class before they closed (I swear I am not a jinx). I had bariatric surgery, lost a lot of weight, and started biking again. I’m working on my master's degree and still get my hands dirty fixing my old Mercedes Benz station wagon. Despite all my challenges, I’ve come to realize that each one prepared me for the next. For that, I feel very fortunate. Ian Campbell is an IS Technician at Central Vermont Medical Center. He has been with us 4 years.

We are closely monitoring the budget developments in Washington, DC. As the House and Senate work to reconcile their budget resolutions, we are paying particular attention to discussions about potential cuts to crucial programs like Medicaid, the joint federal-state safety net health care coverage program. Reductions could significantly impact health care affordability and patient access, as nearly a quarter of Vermonters and New Yorkers living in the communities we serve rely on Medicaid. Protecting patient care and providing affordable access is essential. We are actively advocating for the health care of Vermonters and northern New Yorkers as this process unfolds. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Finding the Wins: Dominique Bryant Basketball has always been a huge part of my life, for better or worse. One of the most important things it taught me is to take the wins when you can, because they can be hard to get. I started playing basketball when I was little. My dad had a lot to do with that, training me, motivating me, and I loved it. I played Division 1 all four years of college, graduated into coaching and was named associate head coach of the UVM Women’s Basketball team in 2021. That next year, we won the America East! It was amazing, but I wasn’t feeling good physically at the end of that season. I had constant vision problems, migraines and vertigo. Then I found out why. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, for which there is no cure. MS can be managed, but stress makes it worse. So, I made a hard choice and stepped away from coaching a successful D1 program to focus on my health. It really hurt. Basketball, playing at a high level and coaching, is who I am. That summer, my mom lost her second battle against breast cancer. She passed away in July. As much as her loss hurt, my family and I had time to prepare. I picked myself up. ‘We’ll get through it,’ I thought. Six weeks later, I got a call from the hospital, at night. I was like, ‘What’s this? My mom’s gone. What are they calling for?’ What I heard I didn’t want to believe. My dad had been playing basketball with my brother… he had a heart attack… and then he was gone. So much loss. For the next year, I sat with my grief. I tried not to ask why, tried not to blame anything. I just tried as hard as I could to accept what had happened and move forward. I found others who were grieving, and we became a team. We supported each other, listened to each other, helped each other get back up after devastating losses. I got my MS symptoms under control. There are still hard days, but I get through them. Each is a hard-fought win. I also got a win I didn’t expect. Basketball came back into my life, this time coaching a high school program. The stress is less, and it connects back to the joy of the game I shared with my parents. Now, wins don’t feel as hard to find. They are just different.

Strategies for exploring innovative ways to create an ecosystem of service and support for people in our communities who do not need hospital-based care were shared by UVMHN leaders Christine Werneke and Jessica Moschella at this week's American Hospital Association Rural Healthcare Leadership Conference. Werneke, interim President of Continuing Care, and Moschella, SVP of High Value Care, highlighted progressive work being done by the UVM Health Network to create a post-acute system of care that focuses on ways to move patients out of the hospital setting when they do not need to be there into responsive care and service in the community or in the home. The strategy also focuses on opening up hospital beds for those who need that level of care.??#AHARuralHealth #PowerOfRural

"If UVMMC were to severely reduce or eliminate its research and educational activities ... this will reduce the number of physicians trained at UVM who remain in Vermont, and reduce the benefits that an academic environment brings to the health of Vermonters."