Dear Central Vermont Community Members,
We are deeply grateful for all that you are doing to support Central Vermont Medical Center as we prepare for a potential surge in COVID-19 patients.
First, your efforts to follow Governors Scott’s request to “stay at home and stay safe” is critical to flattening the curve of transmission within our community.
Since my last communication to you, we received over 100 messages of support from community members to our staff. We have posted these messages throughout our facilities. Thank you for showing our team that you stand with them. It means more than I can convey.
I want to highlight an innovative initiative that has stemmed from our region’s “Accountable Community for Health” partnership, THRIVE. A group of THRIVE members have come together to create the Washington and Northern Orange Counties Regional Response Command Center (WNOC-RRCC) which is focused on saving lives by reducing hospital surge. They will assist state and local efforts and fill gaps where needed to ensure our most vulnerable Central Vermont community members have what they need to stay safe during this difficult time.
I would like to acknowledge the response center’s Unified Commanders, Sue Minter, Executive Director of Capstone Community Action; Eileen Peltier, Executive Director of Downstreet Housing & Community Development; and Joan Marie Misek, District Director of The Vermont Department of Health, along with other THRIVE community partners for their foresight and leadership as they seek to safeguard the most at risk among us during these uncertain times.
This incredible partnership takes a conventional emergency management command center approach and adapts it into a community-based response that directly contributes to our capacity for swift and effective crisis response. You may learn more about the command center here.
We thank you all for everything you are doing to help flatten the curve and for your continued support of Central Vermont Medical Center.
With gratitude,
Anna Tempesta Noonan, RN, BSN, MS
President and Chief Operating Officer
Central Vermont Medical Center