by Don Keelan
The Bennington County political, business, medical, and nonprofit organization leaders continue to address serious and almost insurmountable issues impacting the County: a lack of affordable and workforce housing, drug overdosing, criminal activity, and primary and secondary school cost and performance.
If that wasn’t enough, there is one more. The area is losing its primary care medical providers, specifically medical doctors. Then, it became personal. For the first time in my 84 years, I no longer get to see a primary care physician.
For the record, I am not “out in the cold.” I have been assigned a competent nurse practitioner. What happened? My doctor of the past 36 years committed a dastardly deed; he retired.
Therein lies the problem for Bennington County and a good part of Vermont. Primary care doctors are aging. Soon, several Bennington area primary care doctors will likely close their practices and retire. Then, what happens to the thousands of patients who will continue to require the services of a primary care physician?
In doing an informal survey with a local doctor who recently retired as a primary care physician, we concluded that within the next two years, it is possible that six, or even up to eight, doctors in Shaftsbury and Bennington will retire, with a patient count of approximately, 9,500.
Upon further investigation, it turns out that the Shaftsbury practice, included in the above, closed last year, resulting in approximately 3,500 patients needing a new medical home. Most likely, some moved to the Southwestern Vermont Hospital’s Pownal Medical office. A bit of a hike from Shaftsbury, 20-plus miles. Some patients may have been fortunate enough to be taken in by Bennington’s still-existing primary care practices, and others by the Arlington Federal Qualified HealthCare Clinic.
Since it opened ten years ago, the Arlington FQHC has been a godsend to the greater community, providing medical, dental, and mental health services to approximately 4,000 patients from 26 towns in southern Vermont, eastern New York, and northern Massachusetts. Yet, the Clinic, with two doctors and three nurse practitioner providers, is vulnerable and depends heavily on government subsidies and provider retention.
What I found interesting but upsetting in researching this column is how fluid the primary care doctor situation is. For example, in calling the hospital’s Pownal Campus, I was informed that the practice has a new patient waiting list and that the earliest opening to see a doctor might occur in 2025.
Thirty miles to the north in Manchester, the hospital’s other medical clinic had good news: they were accepting new patients. But this location is also quite a trek for those living in Bennington or Pownal, especially in winter.
I was ready to conclude that the FQHC health center in Arlington was my new home when I discovered that one of the two medical doctors was leaving in March. She will be joining a private clinic in Manchester where, for a $450 annual fee, one can have additional medical privileges. The FQHC informed me that they are not accepting new patients.
Manchester is also home to a medical boutique practice where, for approximately $1,500 fee per year, one can have reasonably close contact with a medical doctor. Of course, the problem is only some have such an amount available, and the practice wishes to take on fewer patients.
However, there is some good news, assuming it is still in the works. The Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, now affiliated with Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, is interested in creating a family practice medical residency program.
Searching for a primary care doctor in southwestern Vermont has taken on the same level of anxiety as finding a plumber, electrician, carpenter, or car mechanic. They just are not available.
The Legislature, the Administration, and the residents of Vermont need to stop kicking the can down the road and recognize that the services we once took for granted are rapidly disappearing. This can be partially reversed if the State commits to more affordable housing for young professionals, tradespeople, and others.