https://www.uvmhealth.org/medcenter/Pages/Departments-and-Programs/Inpatient-Pediatrics.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_mediu

UVM Children's Hospital Pediatric Inpatient Care Unit, 111 Colchester Avenue, Main Campus, Baird, Level 5, Burlington, VT (2026)

03/25/2026

Kidney health advice is everywhere online — but not all of it is accurate.

Chidinma Enyinna, MD, a nephrologist at UVM Health, breaks down some of the most common myths she sees on social media and shares what people should actually do to protect their kidneys.

From “detox” drinks to trendy diets, misinformation about kidney health can spread quickly. Here’s what you really need to know about protecting your kidneys.

03/23/2026

🍓 🥕 🍉 Our advanced practice providers showed up in a big way for this year's “Bag of Groceries” community service project benefiting the Vermont Family Room. Our APPs came together and contributed over $700 in food, essentials and monetary donations — surpassing our goal and strengthening support for local families.

💚 Moments like this remind us that generosity is powerful, and our community is strongest when we support one another. We're tremendously grateful to every APP who helped make a meaningful impact right here at home.

03/22/2026

What happens when personal loss becomes a calling to ensure no one dies alone?

In this episode of Living Healthy Together, Louella Richer, manager of palliative care support at Porter Medical Center, shares her journey through caregiving, grief and healing - and how it led her to support patients and families at the end of life.

🎧 Listen to the podcast
~ Link in the comments ~

03/21/2026

🎼 Grace Notes 🎼
“There is comfort and connection in the strings of a harp.” Meet Rev. Matthew von Behrens, chaplain at Porter Medical Center and Helen Porter Rehabilitation & Nursing.
~~~
My harp has 40 strings, weighs 70 pounds and stands more than five feet tall. But it would be hard to measure the harp’s impact on my life and the lives of people I’ve met who’ve found solace in it.

My professional life began a long way from New England and even farther from harp: My first job was making radiator hoses for Goodyear in Lincoln, Nebraska. I spent 26 years with the company, moving up through the ranks. But as the years went by, something in my soul stirred. I felt called to do more with my life.

I prayed about the future, seeking guidance. Then one day, I had a mystical experience: I knew I was meant to learn the harp and use it in volunteer work. A week later, I bought one.

I’d never done anything musical before. I took 10 lessons, practiced and started volunteering in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.

That decision eventually led to my career as a chaplain. I have a background in religious studies: I went to a seminary college before working for Goodyear. As I got requests to play the harp in health care settings, I realized a new door was opening. I went back to school to get a formal seminary degree.

The harp became one of the tools I use in my chaplaincy – like a physician with a specialty. The right prayer at the right time for the right person can make a huge difference, and the same is true for music.

Music also crosses boundaries where words might trip you up – especially in intimate moments like birth or the end of life. I’ve played in both of those settings, and many others.

I’m not a concert-level musician, and I don’t read music. I memorize songs. But for what I do, it works. There’s something about a harp that reaches people emotionally. People connect with it at a deep level.

It’s a privilege to be there at turning points in people’s lives and to contribute something positive and uplifting. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?
~~~
The Mosaic Project is a collection of short stories about the people of University of Vermont Health. These are your coworkers, caregivers, neighbors, family members, friends – each with unique life experiences that are part of the vibrant mosaic of who we are.

03/20/2026

Big energy. Cold water. Incredible cause.

Thank you to everyone from across UVM Health who took the plunge at this year’s Burlington Penguin Plunge in support of Special Olympics Vermont.

Shoutout to the UVMH Arctic Suns team for sharing photos from the day.

Whether you jumped in, volunteered or cheered from the sidelines, it was inspiring to see UVM Health team members show up and support one another.

Together, this year’s plunge raised more than $500,000 (and counting) for athletes across Vermont.

03/20/2026

Our critical care team trains relentlessly for the rare, urgent moments when a patient’s heart and lungs can no longer sustain them. ECMO — one of modern medicine’s most advanced life-support tools — can provide a vital bridge to recovery for our most seriously ill patients.

“ECMO offers a crucial bridge between medical crisis and the possibility of recovery,” says Erica Charkalis, nurse practitioner in the cardiovascular intensive care unit. “It can be a game changer.”

To stay ready 24/7, a multidisciplinary team of nurses, advanced practice providers, physicians, surgeons, respiratory therapists and perfusionists participate in regular low‑pressure, high‑impact simulations. These drills sharpen skills, build confidence and ensure that when every second counts, the team is prepared.

“It’s incredible to practice at this level right here in Vermont,” Charkalis adds. “This is the pinnacle of intensive care.”

🔗 Read the full story via the link in our comments.

03/19/2026

Behind every nurse is a story - and often, someone who inspires their path. This Certified Nurses Day, our nurses talked about the people and fuzzy friends who support them...

💚 Chelsea Schmoll, RN, BSN, PCCN, CV-BC - pictured with her husband and two daughters: "My main motivation for continuing to advance my nursing career is to show my daughters that while being their mom is my #1 priority, it is also okay (and awesome!) to pursue professional interests and be passionate about your career.

🚌 Kelsey Pasteris, RN: "I am motivated by my bus mates who I see everyday while riding the 116 TriValley Transit bus! Here is a selfie of Bonnie our bus driver and a couple of UVMMC employees on the day we celebrated Bonnie, the best bus driver ever, with breakfast on the bus and even came up with a song which we would start over when we’d pick up someone new."

🐴 Korin Zigler, RN, BSN, PCCN - pictured with her horse, Ding: "Animals provide great balance and inspiration!"

🐶 💛 Melissa Byrne BSN, RN, CCRN: "My family is my motivation. I provide the level of care to my patients that I would want provided to my loved ones. Everyone I care for is someone’s mother, father, brother, sister or child. We all deserve high quality, compassionate care. It’s really that simple."

🐕 Lulu Henley BSBA, BSN, MSN, RN: "I am motivated each day by the unwavering support of my family. Though my husband and I are now empty nesters, we remain deeply connected to our daughter and son‑in‑law, and we are thrilled to be welcoming our first grandchild later this year. Our home life, shared with our four dogs and eighteen chickens, brings me continual joy. The dogs’ enthusiastic greetings after every shift and the daily care of our animals provide a grounding and meaningful rhythm to my days.

👨‍🎓 🧑‍🎓 Paige LaDuke BSN, RNC-MNN, RNC-OB, C-EFM - pictured here with her Baird 5 clinical group from Norwich: "I am a maternal child resource nurse who supports birthing, B7, B5, and the neonatal intensive care unit. I hold specialty certifications in maternal newborn nursing and inpatient obstetrics nursing, as well as a subspecialty certification in electronic fetal monitoring. I also teach clinicals on the seventh floor and B5 for both UVM and Norwich University. I will be completing my master's in nursing education by the completion of this year.

For me, my motivations are my patients and my students. I think that providing competent, evidence-based care is essential for nurses and provides better outcomes for the populations we serve. Being able to advocate for patients to receive the best care across the populations I serve is a feat that I am blessed to take on...Being able to foster growth in students is a wonderful opportunity. Seeing them grow throughout the semester, or the excitement they feel when they gain a new skill or experience is amazing."

03/19/2026

Thank you to all our certified nurses!

03/19/2026

This Certified Nurses Day, we're honoring nurses like Kim Cohen, who wrote of her three girls:

🎈 "My biggest motivators are my three girls, my built‑in hype crew and lifelong Disney Park companions. As the woman they are closest to and look up to, I try every day to live up to the same values I’ve raised them with honesty, kindness, courage and compassion. I want them to see that trying can be hard, failing can be even harder, and both are okay. I want them to watch me struggle, watch me get back up and watch me advocate for myself and for others.

On a more serious note, I was once a critical care patient after a situation that nearly cost me my life. That experience changed me as a nurse. It taught me how vital it is to advocate fiercely, to listen deeply and to never take lightly the trust patients place in us. My own journey fuels the care I give and reinforces why this work matters so much.

My motivation comes from a blend of these things, the love of my daughters, the joy we share and the lived experiences that ground me in purpose. They remind me why I show up every day, to be someone my girls can be proud of and to be the nurse I once needed and that our patients deserve."

03/19/2026

Behind every nurse is a story - and often, someone who inspired their path. This Certified Nurses Day, we’re honoring nurses like Donna MacDonough, who shared this about her father:

"This is my why and why I show up for mental health every day. My father was diagnosed as manic depressive in the early 1970s.

Searching for relief, he turned to substances and ultimately lost his battle with depression on December 8th, 1983, by ending his own life. I was almost four years old. My brother was nearly six. Something no child should have to face.

For years, I didn’t fully grasp how deeply my father’s struggles would shape my own life.

It was only when I confronted my own battles with seasonal depression that his story truly began to resonate with me. December, marked by gray, cold winter days, my father's passing, my birthday, and then Christmas, became a season overshadowed by loss. What was once a month of celebration turned into a complicated, bittersweet time.

These days have never quite been the same, and the mixture of grief and reflection continues to shape my experience each year. I spend every Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at work - there is no other place I would rather be. I like showing up for my patients, but this is something I do to show up for myself too - a commitment to honor his memory and not spend the day at home depressed.

I have been finding my path in the mental health field for over 18 years now. My curiosity first took me to the Vermont State Hospital, and that ended in 2011 when Tropical Storm Irene really turned Vermont's mental health system for a loop. The flood took me to UVMMC Inpatient Psychiatry, and I have been here ever since. I have worked in all roles, but my favorite is my specialty role.

Now, as a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse and in my second year at Norwich in the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner track, I carry my father’s memory with me into every patient interaction. I know firsthand how mental illness can alter the course of a family, and how deeply stigma and silence can wound.

My “why” is simple: I want to offer the support and understanding my father and so many others deserved.

Every day, I am reminded that behind every diagnosis is a story, a family, a life touched by hope and heartbreak. I share this photo as a tribute to my dad, and as a promise to everyone who struggles, you are not alone.

03/18/2026

A Safe Place to Heal: How Medical Respite Supports Recovery and Reduces Hospital Stays

When a patient’s medical needs outlast their housing situation, safe recovery becomes incredibly hard. That’s why UVM Health – Home Health & Hospice launched the Medical Respite Program: to provide short‑term, stable housing where patients can heal after hospitalization.

Jayme, our first participant, required a wound‑vac, strong antibiotics and regular nursing care after three surgeries. Without stable housing he would have remained in the hospital longer or been discharged somewhere that proper wound care would have been nearly impossible.

Through a partnership with UVM Medical Center, CVOEO and Champlain Place, Jayme received:

> A clean room and stable environment
> Skilled nursing visits three days a week
> Emotional support and recovery-focused routines
> Access to meals, case management and long-term housing support

Today, he continues to heal, maintain sobriety and rebuild family connections.

Medical respite is a model that improves outcomes, reduces inpatient stays and strengthens collaboration across health and housing systems.

03/18/2026

🐝 🐝 🐝 A huge thanks to Liz Stringer, clinical patient safety attendant, for her tremendous compassion and dedication to caring for our patients. Liz was recently presented with the BEE Award after being nominated by her colleague, who wrote:

📣 "Liz is one of the most compassionate CPSAs I have ever met in my nursing career. It was an honor to work with her today to care for a patient on comfort measures only. Liz was incredibly calm when the patient became threatening and was present in the moment and held good energy in the room for this patient who didn't have long to live.

After a visit from spiritual care, the patient was able to relax and requested to hold our hands. I was able to sit for about 15 minutes but had to leave to care for other patients but Liz sat right there at the bedside and did not let go of his hand."

💚 Thank you Liz for everything you do for those you care for.

UVM Children's Hospital Pediatric Inpatient Care Unit

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