By Michael Bielawski

The mayor of Newport says that a recommendation by a consulting firm for the Green Mountain Care Board to change its hospital into a mental health facility would be a major blow to economic development and quality of life in their region.

“I can’t think of anything that would more discourage the investors and development we are trying to attract to the region than to have the State communicate that we so little value the communities in this remote and isolated part of the State that we are as a State going to just gut our health care infrastructure here,” Mayor Linda Sullivan said in her weekly report.

She clarifies that the latest GMCB report is asking for a major conversion of their facility, not an outright closure. She writes, “But instead, as is being proposed, North Country Hospital is converted by the State to a specialty care mental institution.”

The report by GMCB can be seen here. It labels the North Country Hospital as “Major Restructuring Needed” and has “Minimal growth potential and poor financial position requiring significant subsidization to improve.” It further calls the facilities an “Aging physical plant needing upkeep/replacement” with “Low procedure/admission volumes due to shrinking/insufficient populations” and more. It further states that there are “Nearby facility available to care for inpatients.”

The report offers a dire financial forecast for the hospital, noting that the GMCB wants $8.7 million more for its next budget versus the FY24 budget.

The mayor notes that her city is growing and investing in new economic and cultural development, including new housing, and all of these will do well for the whole region.

“We have been extremely excited this past year about the plans that are finally taking hold to improve the look and feel of our unique and special ‘downtown on the lake.’ These downtown development efforts will, we firmly believe, allow us finally to realize the tremendous potential we have to increase the prosperity of the entire region,” she wrote.

However, she notes that the GMCB’s recommendations are going to devastate those efforts to improve the city if they force them to overhaul their facility.

“Enter the Green Mountain Care Board,” she wrote. “The State’s healthcare regulator — who recently unveiled a 144-page report from a high-priced consulting firm, Oliver Wyman, who, from its fancy offices around the world, are telling us in Vermont once again that the healthcare system built by Vermont administrations past and present is in deep financial despair.”

She noted the rural setting is particularly challenging for elderly folks who need to make frequent trips for healthcare.

“But because of it, limiting the services to be provided by North Country will without doubt disproportionately impact our retired population, who just can’t easily travel hours for the type of care they need in their advanced years,” she wrote.

She also suggests that this change is going to mean those in need of mental health will be traveling likely far distances to get to their remote community, which could present challenges.

“And to create a specialty mental health hospital here to steer from around Vermont persons having mental health challenges — miles and miles separated from their loved ones — seems particularly cruel. And here I’m not masking a “not-in-my-backyard” sentiment. Vermont sorely needs to expand the number of its available mental health beds.” she wrote.

She writes more about the importance of having economic development in Newport.

“Principally by encouraging private investment that will bring us more and better-paying jobs, support our local property values, allow us to increase our housing stock and to dramatically expand our municipal tax base so that we are able to better build out our infrastructure for the next generations of Newport residents. Basic economic development. Long overdue here,” she wrote.

In another report at the Newport Dispatch, it notes the hospital recently celebrated its 45th anniversary. The story gives an idea of the scope of the facility that would be overhauled.

“It was an incredible night of celebration for the North Country Hospital family as 275 staff members and their guests gathered at the Elks Club Saturday night for an evening of thanking staff for years of service, 5 through 45 years, and celebrating our hometown hospital,” the report states.

Other parts of the mayor’s report are critical of resources being focused on getting drug abusers high at heroin injection sites in Burlington.

GMCB sounding alarm

VDC has covered recently a series of public events and press releases by the GMCB. The primary message being put out is that Vermont’s hospitals – according to the consultants they hired out to – are in dire straights.

“The Board’s press release from late July indicated they are facing a dire economic situation,” the VDC report states. “The report by a GMCB consultant stated, “Unless immediate decisive action is taken to transform Vermont’s health care system, it will be financially unsustainable by 2030.”

The GMCB report based on the consultant’s findings further states, “The problems facing Vermont hospitals include a lack of access and transportation to medical care, long waits in Emergency Departments, high insurance costs, a lack of communication with patients about possible help from financial services, and long waits for medical procedures.”

What comes next?

The mayor is responding to the Green Mountain Care Board’s recommendations, it is not yet a state mandate that the hospital make this changeover. The mayor anticipates that it will come down to lawmakers and the governor to set a policy that protects their hospital from this conversion. She concludes in report by writing, “As your Mayor I have already begun to organize efforts to make sure that the Governor, the legislature and the often-faceless administrators who make these sorts of decisions hear our voices — the People’s voice. I’ll be looking for help.”

The author is a writer with the Vermont Daily Chronicle