North Coun­try swims in rough health­care wa­ters

The Chronicle

At the North Coun­try Hos­pi­tal an­nual meet­ing held last month Dr. Greg Walker, head of the med­ical staff, de­clared “At North Coun­try we take care of our own.”

When the Chron­i­cle spoke with hos­pi­tal pres­i­dent and CEO Tom Frank re­cently, he said Dr. Walk­er’s state­ment is both North Coun­try’s credo and a sim­ple ne­ces­sity.

“Every hos­pi­tal in the state of Ver­mont will tell you they’re unique,” he be­gan, “but North Coun­try truly is and I’ll tell you why. It’s to do with our lo­ca­tion. We’re 45 miles from the near­est other hos­pi­tal and two-plus hours from the near­est ter­tiary, the big hos­pi­tal. We have to take care of here.

“This is our com­mu­nity. That’s why we’re here. We’re not here to take care of pa­tients from Burling­ton or Rut­land. Ninety-two per­cent of our in-pa­tient dis­charges….

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