A new outpatient clinic for veterans has opened in Brattleboro. The clinic offers primary care, mental health services, electrocardiograms, laboratory tests and preventive services such as pneumonia shots and annual flu shots. The clinic opened Friday at 71 GSP Drive. Its hours will be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The search is still on in Keene for a place to put a clinic, said Andrew J. LaCasse, staff assistant to the director of the White River Junction VA Medical Center, which oversees the clinics.

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According to Genworth's 2010 Cost of Care Survey, home care costs, as well as costs of most other long term care services, are higher in Vermont than they are nationally. The median annual rate for home care costs in Vermont is $48,048 statewide, 11 percent greater than the median annual rate of $43,472 nationally. Vermont, along with Delaware and Utah, is the 14th most expensive state for home care services. This is important to note given that a majority of Americans prefer to receive care in the home. 

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Robert Graf said he came to Vermont after his wife, Bernadette Graf, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. "We moved on suggestion of a family member who feels Vermont is probably one of the best places to be when you have a sickness of that type," Graf, 82, said. "He's right." The Grafs were already living at The Maples when PACE Vermont moved in. Their doctor recommended the program and they promptly applied and enrolled. The nonprofit health care provider works with seniors — the name stands for Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly — providing medical services, home care and a day center where staff members provide a variety of services.

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Helen Porter Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center has received a grant of $23,700 from the State of Vermont in support of its efforts to pursue a new “transformational project” to define, implement and evaluate an innovative model of resident care. The grant comes from the “Enhancing Quality of Life” program via the Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) and will support Helen Porter’s efforts to work collaboratively with their board, physicians, residents, families, staff and the broader Addison County community to change their long-established “medical model” of care to a new “social model/person-centered model” according to Helen Porter administrator Neil Gruber.

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Veterans organizations are looking to take a gamble as they seek a steady funding stream for the services they provide to retired servicemen across Vermont. Proposed legislation in the Vermont House would direct the Vermont Lottery to create special instant scratch-off tickets, with proceeds going into a new "Veterans Fund." The three new games called for in the bill could raise in the range of a half-million dollars annually.  

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Governor Jim Douglas today awarded more than $630,000 in Community Development Block Grants to South Burlington, Montpelier, Vergennes, Georgia and Bristol.  At a ceremony at the American Legion Post 14 in Vergennes, the Governor announced funding for an affordable housing project for the elderly, as well as money for improvements to make the Georgia and Bristol municipal buildings handicapped accessible. 

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Increasing numbers of old, frail and disabled Vermonters are falling victim to abuse, neglect and exploitation — and the state agency charged with protecting them is so understaffed and overworked that it’s just a matter of time before the media will be reporting “horror stories” about it. That’s the dire assessment from a loose coalition of advocates who work with Vermont’s “vulnerable adults."

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Shortfalls in Medicaid funding could severely impact the elderly Vermonters whose nursing-home care is funded by the program, according to a national study released Thursday. And unless the projected deficit is filled by the state and federal governments, local advocates say, seniors could see painful cuts in health-care services. Link to full article

The Bennington Banner reports that "Energizer celebrated its 'first-in-the-world' mercury free button cell battery at its Bennington plant Wednesday, marking the company's engineering feat by donating the new product used in hearing aids to local seniors" with the Bennington Project Independence program. The plant in Bennington "will be the sole site producing the battery."

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The Bennington Banner reports that the Bennington Meals Program, which delivers free hot meals to residents age 60 or older, may be effected by fuel costs this year.  Notably, the organization "depends primarily on volunteers using their own vehicles to deliver food to meal sites and private homes in Bennington County," and finance manager Peter Noyes "expects fuel costs to possibly decrease the twice-per-week deliveries to certain meal sites to once per week."  Last year
"gasoline prices cost the program $20,000." That money reimbursed volunteer drivers at 37 cents per mile, "but the program's board of directors is working to raise that amount." Noyes said that "the 2008 fiscal year would see 50,000 meals served which is 5,000 more than the year before." He was not sure if the increase is due to the rise in the cost of living or not.

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WCAX News reports that a report by the U.S. census bureau has found that " the birth rate in New Hampshire and Vermont was 42 births per 1,000 women," lower than the national average of 55 births per 1,000 women. The findings suggest that both states have the lowest fertility rate in the nation. "Vermont officials worry the low birth rate could threaten to shrink the state's work force. The median age of Vermont's work force is just over 42-years-old, the highest in the nation."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that according to new U.S. Census figures, "Vermont's population is aging and slowing becoming more diverse." Indeed, "the median age rose in each of the state's 14 counties from seven years ago." Windsor County was found to be "the state's oldest, with a median age of 44," while "Chittenden County was the youngest, with a median age of 37. In addition, the ce"nsus data show a slow rise in the number of racial minorities and Hispanics in Vermont."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "the Vermont Health Department says a [temporary] shortage of a vaccine for shingles is due to a bottleneck in manufacturing" because the same virus is used to manufacture the shingles vaccine and the chicken pox vaccine. According to Don Swartz, Medical Director of the Department, "Right now, the priority is the manufacture of chicken pox vaccine to immunize children who are entering school." Recently, the Department "sponsored a program to distribute free shingles vaccine to people over 60, a population that is susceptible to the illness.

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The Rutland Herald reports that a couple from Woodstock has donated $250,000 to the Thompson Senior Center.  The money will "be added to the center's endowment, and the income generated will be used to provide activities for the area's senior citizens." The Center currently "offers classes in cooking, tai chi, yoga, watercolor painting and a foreign language program with lessons in French and Italian. The center also offers outings, including an upcoming trip to the Robert Frost Stone House Museum in Shaftsbury and a recent cruise to Alaska."

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The Burlington Free Press reports that about 10,000 to 11,000 of the Vermont's residents have Alzheimer’s disease, "a progressive, terminal disease that destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior, and eventually, the body’s ability to function." Dr. William Pendlebury, professor of pathology and neurology and medical director of the Memory Center at Fletcher Allen Health Care, said he "anticipates the prevalence of the disease [to] triple during the next 20 to 30 years." He noted that the problem will be compounded in Vermont because of the state’s growing aging population. Indeed, an estimated 23,800 additional Vermont baby boomers are expected to develop the disease during their lifetimes. 

For this reason, Jeff Maker, executive director of the Vermont Alzheimer’s Association, believes that "it’s time to increase awareness about Alzheimer’s — from memory-building measures to treatments and research toward a cure — and to forge partnerships linking municipal, state and government agencies with health care systems and other organizations to develop support programs that reach those with dementia, their families and caregivers throughout the state."

Working Toward a Cure

"A study of new treatment is under way at Fletcher Allen Health Care, and caregivers at local senior living facilities are developing new ways to communicate with those afflicted." For example, the "'Memory Bridge' initiative at The Arbors residential facility in Shelburne [is] an effort to teach people how to create meaningful relationships with those affected by dementia. The program, created by the Foundation for Alzheimer’s and Cultural Memory, links middle and high school students with those in residential care settings for companionship. Its goal is to cultivate a better understanding of memory impairment, including the depths of memory dementia doesn’t reach, by teaching methods to communicate with the memory-impaired in emotionally meaningful ways. Though designed for teens, the listening and communication techniques apply to all ages and are becoming widespread among those caring for Alzheimer’s patients."

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