Health

Plans for the 5th Annual Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Touch a Truck event are underway. And we would love for you to participate.

This fun event annually brings over 50 vehicles to the BMH parking lot for kids (and many adults) to look at, climb on and explore. Fire trucks, police cruisers, motorcycles, backhoes, dump trucks, school buses and many, many more converge for a few hours. Last year it is estimated that over 800 children attended.

The Brattleboro Farmers Market hosts the Brattleboro Walk-In Clinic Saturday, July 20th, for a free blood glucose/diabetes screening from 9am to 11:30am.

Now in season at the market: tomatoes, zucchini, peaches, blueberries, beans and peas, fresh basil, new potatoes, greens and broccoli…

Harvest Health Coupons are in for EBT customers! Double your money up to $10 at the market!

For more information, please call 802-254-8885.

– Brattleboro Farmers Market

Indulge your sprit and nourish your soles!
MFTP is offering a end of summer foot soak clinic.
Mondays in August (beginning August 12th) 2-5pm

Come try our half hour foot soak treatment featuring a relaxing foot bath scented with organic essential oils, herbs and salts, followed by a fragrant exfoliating foot scrub, and ending with a blissful foot massage.

Nourish, Detox, Soothe, Balance…Your feet will thank you.

One treatment – $40
Save and buy 3 treatments – $35

Call or email for more details and to schedule an appointment – info@medicineforthepeople.org 802-387-3028

Free Plant walks at the Brattleboro Farmer’s Market: Saturday July 20th, Aug. 3rd & 24th at 11am

The Brattleboro Farmers Market is open 9 to 2 outdoors on Rte 9 and SUMMER is hitting it’s stride! Peaches, blueberries, raspberries, tomatoes, beans and glorious delights of all shapes and flavors are in. Harvest Health Coupons are in: EBT customers, double your money up to $10 while supplies last! 802-254-8885

Join botanist, herbalist and naturalist Heidy Adams on a walk at the Brattleboro Saturday market. We’ll be exploring traditional uses of the native and introduced plants growing in the field, wooded areas and down by the river. There are over 40 plants to discuss!

For all ages! Anyone interested in learning more about the uses of wild local plants are welcome.

The field of psychosynthesis is a transpersonal psychology that works with the natural tendency to seek meaning and purpose in life, thus integrating both psychological and spiritual development. On Sunday, July 14th, the Synthesis Center is offering a free introduction to psychosynthesis at 6:30 p.m. in Brattleboro. The program includes a brief presentation on the principles of psychosynthesis, along with some experiential exercises and an overview of upcoming training opportunities.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced that Christine Trisko earned her Associate of Science degree from Community College of Vermont this past May. Trisko is the Scheduling Coordinator for the Radiology Department.

BMH Director of Radiology Marcy Rushford says the degree improves Trisko’s skills and knowledge and makes her a more rounded employee. BMH supports the personal and professional development of employees by offering a tuition reimbursement program.

Brattleboro Obstetrics and Gynecology announced it has hired Linda S. Buzby, MSN, CNM, to join the staff of Four Seasons Midwifery. She is now accepting new patients.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced that Phaedra McDonough, APRN has joined the medical staff at the BMH Center for Cardiovascular Health and is now accepting patients.

McDonough has eight years’ experience working in the Cardiology Unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene as well as previous experience in the Intensive Care Unit at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. She is a Cardiac Device Specialist with board certification from the International Board of Heart Rhythm Examiners.

Brattleboro Internal Medicine, a member of BMH Physician Group, announced it has hired Eilidh Pederson, MPH as its new Office Manager.

Pederson will be responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the practice, providing the infrastructure to support services offered by the six primary care practitioners, Richard Burtis, MD, Thomas W. Lewis, MD, Laura Metsch, MD, Andrea Galasso, DO, Anne Cloutier, PA and Roxanne Karter, APRN.

New cannabis research indicate that cannabis compounds may help in controlling blood sugar, yet health trends occur despite the fact that marijuana users take in more calories.

The most important finding is that current users of marijuana appeared to have better carbohydrate metabolism than nonusers. Their fasting insulin levels were lower, and they appeared to be less resistant to the insulin produced by their body to maintain a normal blood-sugar level. Current marijuana users showed fasting insulin levels that were 16% lower than those of former or never users, along with a 17% reduction in another measure of insulin resistance as well.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital named Denny Rivers, MLT, its 2013 Employee of the Year during an employee appreciation event held May 16.

A member of the Laboratory Services secretarial staff since 1995, Rivers was nominated for the award in recognition of her problem-solving abilities, among other qualities. She holds a Medical Laboratory Technician certification from University of Vermont, which her peers say makes her a fast worker and thinker while guiding patients.

Everyone can play a role in prevention and you can make a difference!

Stop by the River Garden today between 12-1pm and join , and to play games, win prizes and have fun while learning how you can improve the health and safety of our community!

The Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Birthing Center announced the May and June program schedule for its New Moms Network, which meets every Wednesday from 9:30 to 11:00 AM in the BMH Exercise Room.

Chris Ellis, RD, presents “Starting Solids: Making Your Own Baby Food” on May 15. Ellis is a staff nutritionist at the Brattleboro Food Coop and part of the Early Education Services organization. On May 22, Dawn Kersula, RN, IBCLC, presents “The Advice I Would Give Someone Else About Birth.” Kersula is a perinatal specialist and lead lactation consultant at BMH. She is also president of the Vermont Lactation Association. The final Wednesday of the month, May 29, is an open session.

Interested in cultivating an educated & positive relationship to your body and food?

Want to empower yourself to work with your metabolism, lifestyle choices, and food to increase your health & vitality? 

This 4-week program (May 30th-June27th) is a support group for people wanting lose weight in a sustainable, healthy, and educated way. Gain greater health and lose weight through nutrition, herbs, lifestyle modification, and yoga. 

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) announced today that it has earned its STAR Program® Certification from the Massachusetts-based Oncology Rehab Partners, leading experts in the field of survivorship care. BMH is leading the way in offering excellent cancer rehabilitation services to its patients by becoming the first STAR Program Certified in Vermont.

The STAR program, which stands for Survivorship Training And Rehabilitation, is a national certification program that provides hospitals with the tools and training needed to minimize the debilitating side effects of cancer treatment. The clinicians that have completed the STAR certification course coordinate care to provide treatment tailored to the specific needs of cancer patients who may be experiencing musculoskeletal pain, limb swelling, general weakness, balance issues, fatigue, difficulty swallowing or other debilitating side effects caused by cancer treatments.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital will offer a free public talk entitled, “When A Loved One Has Dementia…” in the Brew Barry Conference Room on Monday, May 20 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

Led by Michelle Rowland, RN, LISCW, the talk will cover expected stages of dementia and available support and treatments for patients in the community. The talk will also address how families, friends and caregivers can find support and relief.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital will offer a free class entitled, “Safe and Simple Chair Exercises for Those with Chronic Illnesses and/or Limited Mobility and their Caregivers” on Monday, May 13 from 3:30 – 5:00 pm in the Brew Barry Conference Room.

Led by Connie Baxter, a certified yoga instructor and bereavement care coordinator at Brattleboro Area Hospice, the class teaches a sequence of easy-to-learn exercises that can be done from the safety of a chair to increase circulation and range of motion. Participants will be given a diagram of the movements along with clear instructions so they can practices these chair exercises, based on yoga postures, with their caregivers at home.

Interested in learning Tai Chi? Medicine for the People is offering a new Beginners Tai Chi Series starting May 17th in Putney. This 14 week series covers the basic building blocks of Tai Chi movement — increase stregnth, flexibilyt and vitality. Tai Chi Chuan is often described as a moving meditation; after practice, one feels invigorated, clear-minded, and peaceful.

The BMH Center for Cardiovascular Health announced cardiovascular surgeon Daniel Walsh, MD, will begin seeing patients in its offices starting Monday, May 6.

Dr. Walsh has been a member of the medical staff at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire since 1987. He will be at BMH every other Monday between the hours of 1:00 and 5:00 PM to consult on a variety of arterial and venous diseases, including aortic aneurysm, carotid disease, peripheral arterial disease, venous disease, renal artery disease, hypertension, stenosis and mesenteric ischemia.

“Having Dr. Walsh here to evaluate and treat vascular disease adds another element of care we can provide for our community,” says the Center’s Medical Director, Mark Burke, MD, adding that Dr. Walsh will also be available as a consultative resource for the BMH Center for Wound Healing.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced its Comprehensive Breast Care Program was awarded a grant from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Foundation in April.

According to Kelly McCue, RN, MSN, nurse navigator and administrator for the BMH Comprehensive Breast Care program, the grant will be used to support accommodation of patients with disabilities and improve accessibility to mammograms and other breast imaging services.