Golisano Children's Hospital at UVM Health

11/06/2025

Grief is different for everyone — especially kids.

Golisano Children’s Hospital at UVM Health offers open, monthly in-person support groups for youth ages 6-17 who are navigating loss – and for caregivers, too.

These compassionate spaces, supported by generous funding from the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Fund, help children express emotions, build resilience and connect with others who understand.

Caregivers can learn about strategies to support grieving children, while acknowledging their own grief — because healing happens together.

📅 3rd Saturday of each month, Sept–May
📍 UVM Medical Center
📩 Learn more or register: https://bit.ly/47MV0GV

11/05/2025

Community support is making a big difference for our youngest patients, and their families!

We're celebrating completion of a renovation at Vermont’s only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Golisano Children’s Hospital at UVM Health.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of several donors – including a $1 million gift from EastRise Credit Union, as well as support from the Vincent Family Foundation and the Garibay family – our NICU now offers:

✅ Two new private rooms (including a double patient room)
✅ A brighter, more secure entrance
✅ A redesigned nurses’ station to enhance care and workflow

These and other updates help create a more family-centered and functional environment for the 500 infants we care for each year from across Vermont and northern New York.

And they support the talented staff who make that care happen every day.

🙏 Thank you for helping us build a space where healing and hope can flourish.

11/03/2025

UVM Health interim CEO Dr. Stephen Leffler sat down with Liz Strzepa My NBC5 to talk about what’s ahead for our hospitals and clinics — from improving access to care to keeping health care as affordable as possible.

You can watch the full segment at My NBC5 — link in the comments.

11/01/2025

One family’s scare shows why this respiratory season matters more than ever for parents and older adults. Learn what’s new — and how to protect your family this winter.

🎧 Listen to the full podcast
*Link in comments

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✨ Real stories. Real care. Real impact. ✨

Living Healthy Together | Breathing Easy: Navigating Respiratory Disease Season

At barely four months old, Weston Bird faced a life-threatening battle with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) that kept him in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of Golisano Children’s Hospital at University of Vermont Health for weeks. This week, we follow Weston’s journey back to health through the eyes of his mother and learn about medical advances that are changing respiratory disease season for children, families and senior citizens.

As respiratory disease season ramps up, join us as we talk with leading experts from across UVM Health to explore what this season means for communities across Vermont and northern New York.

From influenza, COVID and RSV vaccines, to public health guidance and rural care challenges, experts in public health, pulmonary and critical care, and pediatrics share trusted insights, actionable advice and perspectives to help individuals and families stay healthy.

10/31/2025

From real-life psychiatry to zombie fiction — this story from UVM Medical Center reminds us that sometimes, facing our fears starts with imagination. 👇

Real doctor 🎃 Fake virus 🎃 Unforgettable story

This Halloween, read how The Zombie Autopsies began — full story in comments.

By day, Dr. Steven Schlozman helps children and families face real-world fears as chief of child psychiatry at UVM Medical Center and associate professor at The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont.

By night, he’s a storyteller who’s crossed paths with horror legends like George A. Romero and Max Brooks.

➡️ Read the full feature — link in comments.

10/30/2025

What an incredible gathering! 💚

Thank you to everyone who joined us — both in person and online — for the 4th Annual Health Equity Summit!

Over two inspiring days, we learned, reflected and reimagined what equity looks like in practice.

When our Planning Committee first came together a year ago, we held a shared vision: to create a Summit made by the community, for the community — a space that uplifts collective wisdom over academic hierarchy and invites us not just to present, but to be present.

This year, that vision came to life. The Summit brought together a truly diverse, intentional and engaged community — one that reflected the many voices, experiences and hopes shaping our shared pursuit of equity.

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✨ HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SUMMIT ✨

🔹Opening Keynote: Loretta J. Ross reminded us of the transformative power of calling in rather than calling out — an invitation to deepen both our courage and our connection.

🔹Closing Keynote: Ferene Paris encouraged us to live out loud, use our voices boldly, and make space for truth-telling in every part of our health care systems and beyond.

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🏆 POSTER PRESENTATION AWARD WINNERS

🔹Best Community-Driven Solution: iFY – A Game Changer for Accessing Information for Refugees and Im/Migrants — Allison Segar

🔹Most Innovative Approach: Painting Through PTSD: Healing from Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault Through Art — Michelle Bruner

🔹Best Long-Term Sustainability Plan: Bridging the Gap: Launching a Rural Emergency APP Fellowship to Advance Workforce Readiness and Retention — Dr. Mauvareen Beverley, MD

🔹Wild Card: Investigating the Effects of Changes in Perceived Discrimination on Cognition During Adolescence — Avinabo Poddar & Dr. Alexis Brieant, PhD

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🌟 Thank You 🌟

🔹 To our sponsors — Northfield Savings Bank, Vermont Relay, UVM Medical Center Auxiliary, Mamava and Institute for Healthcare Improvement - IHI — for making this event possible.

🔹 To our co-presenter — University of Vermont — for hosting the event at the Davis Center, with gratitude to The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont and the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences for their partnership.

🔹To Dark Star Productions for conference AV support and Iceberg Consulting, LLC for keynote illustrations, and our wonderful exhibitors representing organizations across Vermont and beyond.

🔹And finally, to our Summit Planning Committee, volunteers and co-chairs Taylor Small and Hajar Anvar — thank you for your vision, dedication and heart.

Together, we created something truly special — a Summit that not only centered equity, but embodied it. 💚

10/30/2025

At UVM Health, we offer free language services—including ASL and tactile ASL—to support your communicative autonomy. Whether you need in-person or remote interpreting, we’re here to make sure you can understand, express and make decisions about your care. Just ask—we’re here for you.

*Link in the comments

10/29/2025

UVM Children's Hospital is now Golisano Children's Hospital at UVM Health! Watch the announcement of an incredible $25 million donation from The Golisano Foundation that will help kids across our region.

10/29/2025

Younger women facing breast cancer often have to choose between aggressive treatment and their future fertility.

An innovative UVM Cancer Center trial is asking: what if they didn’t have to?

For Diane, the OFSET study offered something powerful — hope, choice and a gentler way forward. 💚

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When Diana Padron was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in 2023, her thoughts raced — not just about her health, but about how treatment might change her life. Living in a small town in New York’s North Country, she worried about the visible effects of chemotherapy, especially hair loss.

“I didn’t want to lose my hair and have to constantly answer questions,” Padron says.

Thanks to an innovative national clinical trial at University of Vermont Health – UVM Cancer Center, Padron found a different path — one that may help many women like her move forward with fewer side effects and less disruption to their lives.

RETHINKING THE ROLE OF CHEMOTHERAPY
The OFSET trial — short for Ovarian Function Suppression Evaluation of Therapy — is exploring whether chemotherapy can be safely skipped for certain premenopausal women with the most common type of early-stage breast cancer. Instead, the trial uses ovarian suppression and hormone therapy to treat the disease, potentially sparing patients from the fatigue, neuropathy and emotional toll that often accompany chemotherapy.

“Chemotherapy is a powerful tool, but it comes with risks we take seriously,” says Kara Landry, MD, lead investigator for the trial at UVM Cancer Center. “Hopefully this will help young women move forward with fewer complications and a smoother recovery.”

LOCAL ACCESS, LIFE-CHANGING IMPACT
UVM Cancer Center is the only site in the region offering the OFSET trial, providing essential access for patients in northern Vermont and New York’s North Country. For Padron, that proximity made all the difference.

“My husband came to every appointment,” she says. “He couldn’t do that if it was in Boston.”

She credits her care team, especially Shlomit Ein-Gal, MD, the hematologist and oncologist who oversaw her treatment, with making her feel supported and heard throughout.

“Amazing care every step of the way,” Padron says. “Constant communication, always feeling heard and cared for. I never felt like I was just another patient.”

A TRIAL DESIGNED FOR YOUNGER WOMEN
Breast cancer affects one in eight women, but younger, premenopausal patients have long been underrepresented in clinical research. OFSET is one of the first national studies focused specifically on their needs — including fertility concerns and the potential for more aggressive disease.

The trial targets the most common breast cancer subtype: estrogen-driven, HER2-negative tumors. Participants must also have a low or intermediate risk of recurrence, determined through specialized lab testing.

Researchers are asking a critical question: Are younger women benefiting directly from chemotherapy, or is the benefit coming from the ovarian suppression it causes? If suppression alone is enough, many patients could avoid chemotherapy altogether.

Ovarian suppression is delivered through injections or surgery and paired with hormone therapy lasting five to 10 years. Though the treatment is longer, many patients find it more manageable than chemotherapy.

“It can take a lot out of you,” Padron says. “For someone who wants to have kids, this seems like an easier option with less toll on the body.”

LOOKING AHEAD
Despite having no family history of breast cancer, Padron saw her diagnosis as an opportunity to help others.

“If this can help people in the future,” she says, “why not try?”

The OFSET trial is still underway, but its potential to reshape treatment for younger women is already clear. For Padron and others, it offers something powerful — hope, choice and a gentler way forward.

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The University of Vermont Cancer Center

10/28/2025

BIG NEWS for children's health care!

We’re thrilled to announce that our children’s hospital has received a transformative $25 million gift from philanthropist and civic leader Tom Golisano (The Golisano Foundation)!

This incredible generosity will:
✨ Expand critical services for children with complex medical needs.
✨ Bring specialty care closer to home for families across Vermont and northern New York.
✨ Support our commitment to safe, high-quality, accessible and more affordable care.

As part of this gift, we’re honored to be part of the Golisano Children’s Alliance – ten children’s hospitals around the country that will work together, share their strengths and learn from each other to support the highest-quality health care for kids, close to home.

To recognize this milestone, our hospital will be renamed:
🏥 Golisano Children’s Hospital at University of Vermont Health

“This donation sets us up to better serve our communities for generations to come,” said Dr. Lewis First, Chief of Pediatrics at Golisano Children's Hospital at UVM Health. “Thank you, Tom Golisano, for investing in the futures of our children and families in such a meaningful way.”

This gift is a tribute to the excellent care that our pediatric clinicians and staff provide, every day. We’re proud, grateful and excited for what’s ahead.

10/26/2025

🪖👑MOSAIC PROJECT | Camo and Crowns 👑🪖

“I was just entranced by the act of caring for something vulnerable.” Meet Sophia Parker, an RN in the Emergency Department at UVM Medical Center.

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I was always the kid that would go out into my yard and find a baby mouse that needed help. “Mom, Dad, we’re taking care of this,” I’d say. It wasn’t a choice. Those were my first “patients.”

My mom and I met a few local wildlife rehabilitators, Alan Jarecki and Carol Winfield, who would take in the animals I found and mentored us both. I was just entranced by the act of caring for something vulnerable. That’s when I realized: caring — for animals and people — was my calling.

When I was 10, my mom became a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. When I was old enough, I did too. Now we run Otter Creek Wildlife Rescue in Addison and coordinate a volunteer transport network to get injured animals to the right rehab. It’s an incredible community.

My grandfather fought in World War II, earned a Purple Heart at the Battle of the Bulge, and later became a storyteller sharing the intense experiences of his service. I’ve always looked up to him and thought of following that path.

I also wanted to go to college — but wasn’t sure how to pay for it. A high school teacher suggested the Miss Vermont competition. I laughed. “That’s hilarious, no.” I’d always been a tomboy. But when I learned it was about scholarship, service and empowering women, I was in.

For my first competition, I bought a $10 dress at a second-hand store. But my grandfather's military legacy was still pulling at me. So, I decided to do both. After high school, I joined the Vermont National Guard to become a medic, which covered nursing school. I just got back from a two-week training in Greece.

This year I also became the 80th Miss Vermont — and I’m headed to the Miss America competition that starts on September 3, 7 pm ET.

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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.

10/25/2025

Palliative care isn’t about end-of-life. It’s about living your best, even in the face of serious illness. For the Dobrin family, it meant finding clarity, connection and peace through a time of profound change.

🎧 Listen to their story — link in the comments.

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✨ Real stories. Real care. Real impact. ✨
Living Healthy Together | Quality Time – A Family’s Palliative Care Journey

Palliative care isn’t about end-of-life. It’s about living your best, even in the face of serious illness. As Jayne Dobrin’s health declined in 2024, her husband, Steve, and adult daughters faced difficult conversations and emotional challenges. That’s when Steve and Jayne connected with the palliative care team at UVM Health – University of Vermont Medical Center, who helped guide them through some of the most complex and difficult moments of their lives.

Follow Jayne and Steve’s story, as Steve shares how support from a team of compassionate nurses, social workers, physicians and other health care professionals helped his family navigate medical transitions, coordinate care and find peace during Jayne’s final days. And hear from experts across UVM Health about the importance and impact of palliative care – and how early conversations with loved ones and your medical team can make a lasting difference.

Jayne and Steve’s story highlights the true purpose of palliative care: a holistic approach to helping patients and families live well, even in the face of serious illness.