About 100 people showed up to a community meeting in Townshend on Thursday to show support for Grace Cottage Hospital, the smallest hospital in the state.
Grace Cottage was one of the four hospitals specifically cited in a recent statewide report that calls for a major restructuring of Vermont’s hospital system.
The report says Grace Cottage should consider shifting all of its inpatient beds to mental health, geriatric psychiatry or memory care, and close down its emergency department, utilizing the beds at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, which is about 20 miles away.
But at the meeting Thursday, Grace Cottage CEO Olivia Sweetnam said the hospital was not interested in voluntarily accepting the report’s suggestions.
“These are recommendations, not mandates,” Sweetnam said. “Green Mountain Care Board, [Agency of Human Services], does not have the ability to say, ‘You are now a psychiatric facility.’”
The report was commissioned by the Legislature to address years of financial losses among the state’s hospitals, and to “reduce inefficiencies, lower costs, improve population health outcomes, reduce health inequities and increase access to essential services.”
These are recommendations, not mandates. Green Mountain Care Board, AHS, does not have the ability to say, "You are now a psychiatric facility."Olivia Sweetnam, CEO, Grace Cottage Hospital
Grace Cottage Hospital was one of four hospitals — along with Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, North Country Hospital in Newport and Springfield Hospital — the report named as being at risk due to their minimal growth potential and poor financial position.
The author of the report admitted recently that some of the data was inaccurate, and so far all of the hospitals have been pushing back on the report’s conclusions.
“I think it appeared clear to everyone that these were kind of copy-and-paste recommendations,” Sweetnam said. “The major restructuring group kind of got the same recommendations across the board.”
Sweetnam admitted that Grace Cottage Hospital loses money every year, and the hospital only stays afloat due to local donations, which are by far the most in the state as a percentage of the hospital’s total budget.
Local donations made up about 8% of the hospital’s revenue in 2023.
A number of former patients spoke up at the meeting about the importance of having Grace Cottage in the West River Valley.
If we cut back those hours and have a medical emergency, and can’t come here, it could be 40 or 45 minutes to get to Brattleboro. So as a person who’s been served by your emergency department, I’m really concerned about that. That could cost a life.Bill Dunkel, Windham resident
“If we have a medical emergency, a life-threatening emergency, it’s possible to get to Grace Cottage in 20 minutes, maybe a little bit less,” said Bill Dunkel, who lives in nearby Windham. “If we cut back those hours and have a medical emergency, and can’t come here, it could be 40 or 45 minutes to get to Brattleboro. So as a person who’s been served by your emergency department, I’m really concerned about that. That could cost a life.”
The Agency of Human Services, which will lead the restructuring efforts, says it will hold a public forum on the report in the coming weeks.
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