Our Town Meeting Day Request

Town Meeting Day will look different this year due to COVID-19. Many of us are voting via mail-in ballot and may have already cast our votes. Sandy Rousse, CVHHH’s CEO, wrote this op-ed, which will appear in the Saturday, February 28th issue of The Times-Argus. Every year, CVHHH relies on support from community members via town funding to bring our mission to life and to ensure that Central Vermonters can access the medical and supportive care they need at home. The pandemic did not change this. Please support CVHHH’s town funding request on your community’s Town Meeting Day ballot. 

On Town Meeting Day, registered Vermont voters come together to discuss the business of their towns, including the budget. Every year, CVHHH requests funding from each of the 23 communities that we serve.

Town Meeting Day is one of my favorite Vermont traditions. This year I will miss the opportunity to attend meetings in person and to speak on behalf of CVHHH, sharing information about the services we provide and why we rely on funds from community members. I will especially miss listening to community members talk about their experiences with CVHHH.

If I could, I would tell Central Vermonters about everything we did this past year to respond to their pandemic-related needs while continuing to offer the full-range of services at home to people of all ages, including COVID-positive individuals. I am immensely proud of our visiting staff – the registered nurses, therapists, nurse’s aides, personal care attendants, and social workers – who showed me what it really means to be on the front lines of this pandemic. We never closed our doors or stopped taking referrals. In fact, we expanded services, including incorporating telemedicine and virtual visits via the iPad or phone into people’s plans of care, coordinating three flu vaccine clinics for homeless Central Vermonters, and delivering over 3,000 meals to Central Vermonters through the Vermont Everyone Eats program. Our relationship with local EMS crews expanded to better support and care for individuals with complex needs and to ensure that first responders were available to manage legitimate emergencies. Now, we are partners with local EMS crews to vaccinate homebound Central Vermonters who cannot get to a public clinic in person.

Listen Now – Your Town Funding FAQs Answered

Listen to WDEV’s Ric Cengeri interview with Sandy Rousse about the upcoming 2021 town funding season.

Our staff are called to work at CVHHH for a variety of reasons. One thing many of us have in common is a desire to help others and a commitment to our community and the people who live here.

This community gives CVHHH purpose and life. In turn, we are committed to taking care of this community. We do this by bringing hospital-level care, education, and support to Central Vermonters at home so that they can stay engaged with their families and friends and maintain their independence.

Many of our staff were born and raised in Central Vermont, and many of us live here. Our patients are our friends and neighbors, and, like you, we want this community to thrive.

You’ll see an ad in today’s issue of this paper featuring Burr Morse of Morse Farms. Last year, Burr’s wife of 42 years, Betsy, died at home. Burr describes the care provided by our hospice team as perfect. We did everything that we could to make Betsy comfortable and to support her wish to die at home surrounded by family. We believe people deserve the right to choose where they receive medical care, and so does Burr. He supports CVHHH’s town funding request because he knows from personal experience that communities thrive when people take care of one another. “Love has got to be spread on every level,” he says.

Today and every day, CVHHH is your committed community healthcare partner. We have been serving Central Vermonters for over 100 years, and with your support of our town funding request, we will be here for another 100 years.

More from the CVHHH Blog
Skip to content