87th Annual Meeting a Success!

This past week, over 120 health care leaders came together in-person for the first time since COVID-19 to discuss and tackle many of our more difficult health care challenges. It was incredibly nice to be together after such a long time apart. We are enormously proud of our work together over the past several years—making policy, collaborating and problem-solving over Zoom calls. There is really nothing, however, like being together again. We know Vermonters are in good hands with leaders so deeply committed to the health and wellbeing of the patients, families and communities they care for.

 

We were inspired by Dr. Melinda Estes, who gave our keynote address and shared her experiences since leaving Vermont 11 years ago. We were wowed by an account of the awesome work we are doing to support refugee families relocating in Vermont and we took a dive into the challenges our providers are facing after years of trauma and understaffing. These are not issues solved over a quick two-day conference, but we are bolstered by each other and recommitted to progress. You'll find detail about our program in VAHHS Update over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here's a look at the video that opened our conference. It includes voices and photos of the amazing health care workers who serve our state.